


Caelum

by ladyroxanne21



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Awkward First Times, Bondage, Jumping to Erroneous Conclusions, M/M, Magical Tattoos, overreacting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-20
Updated: 2017-08-04
Packaged: 2018-11-16 09:04:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 34,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11249958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyroxanne21/pseuds/ladyroxanne21
Summary: When Harry goes to return Draco's wand just a month and a few days after the Final Battle, they end up in bed. The next morning, Harry finds out that Draco is engaged to be married and flees the country. Thirteen years later, Harry returns and wonders if he and Draco could be friends. Instead, Harry meets and befriends Caelum - a cute little mini Draco that is nothing like Harry would expect from the newest Malfoy Heir.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A super big shout out to Chrissie! She saw me complain on my Facebook that I was motivated to write but had nothing worth writing and gave me a detailed outline of a story she wanted to write but couldn't. Thus, this collaboration :-D  
> The plot and most of the details are hers, I just filled it out a bit and added some backstory - thus the kink is all my fault, lol!

Harry grabbed his hair and yanked on it before he could remember that he had spent more than an hour trying to wrangle it into some semblance of order. This was ridiculous! He was about to turn 31 in a month and here he was, acting like a self conscious teenager!

Hell, he was acting worse than even that because when he had done this exact same thing at 17, he hadn't been nervous at all. Not like now, when he felt like he had a wriggling mass of puppies in his stomach. Or maybe it was more like a nine headed hydra that was spitting acid.

In any case, it should be a simple matter of ringing the damn bell, but he just couldn't make himself do so. He felt almost rooted to the spot, as if he'd been hit with a Petrificus Totalus. Only he could move his hands just enough to practically tear out his hair.

He'd only been to the Manor twice before, both when he was just 17. The first time, he'd been captured by snatchers and brought here to be given to Voldemort. He'd ended up surprised when Draco Malfoy refused to confirm his identity. After that, he gotten damn lucky and managed to escape – and bring everyone with him – but at the cost of Dobby's life. The thought still made him sad.

The second time he'd been here, he'd – well...

 

***

 

Harry Apparated to the gate of Malfoy Manor and confidently rang the bell. He was here on a mission – just one short month and a couple of days after defeating Voldemort. His mission was to –

Draco raised a brow and stared in disbelief at him through the gate. “What in Salazar's moldering grave brings _you_ here, Potter?”

Harry lightly flinched at the way Draco still managed to say _Potter_ as if the name was something most people would cross the street to avoid getting too close to. And yet, at the same time, he was relieved that there was still at least one person who didn't try to worship the ground he walked on. Aside from his best friends and most of the Weasleys.

“Well, er, I came to, to...” he trailed off awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. Suddenly, it was harder than he thought to _say_ the words out loud.

“Spit it out and go away!” Draco commanded in a growl.

“Draco!” Narcissa cried out in a tone that suggested that she was thoroughly scandalized. She'd been alerted – the same as Draco had – to a guest by a house elf and had come to see if it was anyone she needed to deal with personally. By the look of it, it was.

Approaching the gate, Narcissa waved her hand at it – which was not only a command to open, but a gesture that allowed the wards on the gate to recognize her as someone authorized to open it. “Please come in, Mr. Potter. I think that tea in the garden would be lovely.”

“Er...” Harry droned for a moment before following her. “Yeah, I'd like that.”

Narcissa ordered a house elf to Apparate Harry to the wrought iron table in the garden while she took a moment to grab Draco's arm and give him a look that more than let him know how she felt about him being so rude to their important guest. Draco sighed in frustration, but didn't resist when she Apparated him to the garden.

They all sat and accepted tea and biscuits from a house elf. Narcissa made a little small talk to break the ice, took a delicate sip from her tea cup, and then set it aside with a polite smile.

“Now then, Mr. Potter, what brings you here today?” She asked, and then glanced at Draco with a significant look that Draco caught and rolled his eyes over but Harry missed.

“I actually came to thank you. Both.” Harry unconsciously ran a hand through his hair again.

“Thank us?” Narcissa questioned in mild surprise.

“Er, yeah,” Harry confirmed with a small smile at her. “I'm grateful to you for lying to Voldemort for me. It gave me the time I needed to recover and prepare.”

“Ah,” Narcissa murmured softly before taking another delicate sip of her tea. “Well, by that point, I was fairly certain that the Dark Lord held no regard for our family, and that – Mr. Potter – is something I could not abide.”

Harry nodded. “I've actually always admired that about your family. You may not do things that most people consider good, but the things you do are clearly motivated by helping and protecting each other.”

“Is it not the same for your muggle family?” Narcissa asked curiously.

Harry snorted in derisive amusement. “No! My Aunt and Uncle would have been far happier if I'd died in the war – although they'd probably have wanted me to win first so that they wouldn't have to worry about Voldemort leading our kind into taking over.”

“Oh?” Narcissa asked in mild disbelief. She had a hard time imagining the sort of people that would dislike a member of their family so much that they wanted them to die. Not even her own family truly went that far. When a member disgraced the family, they were banished, not killed.

She was distracted for a moment by the realization that now that the war was over, there was not a single person left standing between her and her sister. Perhaps a reconciliation was possible?

“Yeah,” Harry confirmed with a shrug, not knowing what else to say.

Narcissa stood up abruptly. “You'll have to excuse me; I just realized that I have something important to do.” She dared to place her hand on Harry's shoulder. “It was lovely to see you again. Please, feel free to visit anytime you like. Perhaps next time, we can talk more about how sorry I am for what happened to you here.”

“Er, yeah, that would be...” he scrambled for a good word, but had to settle on: “Interesting...”

With a tiny smile and a nod, Narcissa Apparated away before she lost her nerve. A letter may seem harmless enough, but the thought of writing to her sister after all this time seemed scarier than almost anything. It was a huge risk, and she wasn't sure she could bear to make the overture only to be rejected.

Meanwhile, Draco was staring – nearly glaring – at Harry again. “Well, now that we're stuck having tea all by ourselves, you can kindly spit out whatever it is you _really_ came here for.”

Harry chuckled and felt a small smile stretch his lips. “I actually _did_ come here to thank you. Not only for pretending that you didn't know it was me the last time I was here, but also...” he slowly reached into his pouch and pulled out Draco's wand. “I know you didn't give it to me on purpose, but I never would have been able to defeat Voldemort without your wand, so... yeah. Thank you.”

Draco took his wand back. He hadn't been able to buy a new one just yet – and neither had his mother, since he'd lost her wand in the Room of Hidden Things just before it was destroyed by a Fiendfyre. Thus, they'd had to rely on the house elves to do all their magic.

Honestly, Draco had no idea how to feel about this turn of events. As much as he liked the idea of having his wand back, he _didn't_ like how it felt like some sort of debt. Like he now owed Harry. More than he already did. Or worse! Like Harry was simply taking pity on him!

“I don't need your pity, Potter. I assure you that I can afford to buy a new wand,” Draco sneered.

“Don't be such a bastard, Malfoy!” Harry growled in frustration. “I am here to give you back your wand because it's _yours_.”

“I should hex you with it to be sure you didn't break it, and also to punish you for stealing it in the first place!” Draco announced, and then cast a stinging hex, which Harry dove to the ground to avoid. As Draco cast a nonverbal ticking jinx, Harry leapt up and tackled Draco to the ground.

“If you're going to be an arse about it, I'll just take it back!” Harry roared, trying to wrestle the wand out of Draco's hands.

Disappointed that his tickling jinx had missed, Draco rolled them so that he was on top of Harry with one hand on Harry's neck while the other kept his wand out of reach. Harry rolled them both over again and lay full on top of Draco as he used both hands to try and grab the wand. They both gasped and stopped moving as they realized that they were pressed groin to groin and that both of them were utterly hard.

“Ah fuck it!” Harry said both mentally and literally as he gathered up his Gryffindor courage and kissed the boy he'd been obsessing over for years now.

Draco inhaled in shock, and then surrendered to the opportunity. No, he did more than just surrender. He took full advantage of the situation by Apparating them to his bedroom – directly onto his bed.

Then he used his wand to cast an intangibility spell on all their clothes so that they could be banished to the floor. Next, he cast an array of spells to clean him out, soften him up, and lubricate him. Lastly, he summoned the bottle of his favorite oil. He'd blended it himself so that it smelled and tasted of lime and verbena even as it relaxed and soothed sore muscles.

“Here,” he murmured as he handed the bottle to Harry, which had the effect of breaking off the heavy kissing they'd been in the middle of.

Harry took the bottle with a curious frown, and then blushed when his mind had a chance to take an inventory of his current situation. “Oh, erm... Y-y-you want me t-t-to shag you?”

Draco rolled his eyes, but rather than say something acerbic – as he usually did when confronted with someone stating the obvious – he simply grabbed Harry's free hand and made two fingers probe him. “Obviously. Why else would we be naked in my bed?”

“O-o-okay... I can do that,” Harry muttered, more to himself than Draco. “Just... just let me know if I'm hurting you.”

Draco chuckled, tempted to roll his eyes again. “I assure you that you're not so overly blessed that you'd tear me up.”

Taking a deep breath, Harry nodded in acceptance, slicked up his shaft, and then tossed the bottle a little off to the side. He lined himself up with Draco's soft pucker, pausing to close his eyes and remind himself that people did this all the time. It wasn't nearly as big a deal as it felt at the moment.

Opening his eyes, he gave Draco a tiny smile. “Kiss me while I do this, Malfoy.”

Draco promptly curled forward so that he could do exactly that, which gave Harry the minor distraction he needed to push into Draco. Slowly but steadily. When he felt his balls get squashed between them and realized that he was as deep as he could go, he gasped and rested his head on Draco's shoulder.

Draco wiggled a little to get a good feel for Harry inside him, and then smiled. Despite saying that Harry wouldn't hurt him, Draco had only ever had Blaise inside him before – and while Blaise was hung bigger than anyone else Draco had seen in person, Harry was actually fairly close in width but not length. Thus, he had been secretly nervous that maybe Harry would hurt him after all; likely on purpose. Instead, he was feeling really good, aside from the minor and inevitable burn.

Or he would be, if Harry ever got around to moving.

“Something wrong?” Draco asked with a concerned frown.

“God no!” Harry blurted out before he could remind himself that this was _Draco Malfoy_ that he was talking so vulnerably to. “I just didn't expect that to feel as good as it does and I'm afraid that if I start moving, it'll be over already.”

“Wait...” Draco bade, suddenly suspicious. “Don't tell me this is your first time.”

Harry blushed and looked away to hide his face – which Draco wouldn't have been able to see anyway since Harry had still been resting his head on Draco's shoulder.

“Whoa, wait, _seriously_?!” Draco demanded in astonishment.

Harry sighed, equal parts embarrassed and frustrated. “Yeah, well, I didn't exactly have time for things like this.”

“Alright,” Draco murmured soothingly. “Just... move. Don't worry about hurting me because I'm feeling exactly the way I should be. Just move however you like. Slow. Fast. I actually like it rather hard and rough, but don't feel like you have to do that if you don't want.”

Strangely, hearing that Draco wasn't hurt and actually liked it rough made Harry feel better. With a nod, he turned his head back so that he could kiss Draco again. Then he did as suggested and moved, finding a pace that felt incredible without overwhelming him too quickly.

Tempted to purr happily, Draco not only kissed Harry, but also tangled his fingers in that wild black hair. Then his hands roamed down Harry's back until they reached his arse, which Draco grabbed onto and encouraged Harry to go a bit deeper.

For some reason, this set Harry off, to his embarrassment. He sighed in frustration and rested his head on Draco's shoulder again. Draco didn't let him escape.

“Keep grinding and rocking into me slowly,” he advised. “If you're lucky, you'll recover very quickly and be able to keep going.”

“That's possible?” Harry asked softly, surprised.

“Sometimes,” Draco replied with a light chuckle.

To both of their delight, Draco was right. Harry not only managed to keep going, but he now had the stamina to last for a long time. Even better, he found the exact pace and angle that made Draco gasp and grunt almost constantly. It was that rough and sweaty sex that Draco just loved!

They were still going at it when a house elf arrived to announce dinner. Thankfully, elves knew that such intimacy shouldn't be interrupted and left right away. Unfortunately, the elf had to tell Narcissa why Draco was skipping dinner. She took the news with a thoughtful expression, wondering if Harry was about to become a very regular visitor, and if so, how to smooth things over with Lucius.

Meanwhile, Draco was practically gloating over the fact that their somewhat explosive chemistry was as strong now as it had ever been. Every time he got close, he'd initiate a mini battle that resulted in them changing positions and kissing for a bit before resuming. He'd honestly never had a more enjoyable time in bed!

Harry couldn't believe that his first time was not only lasting several glorious hours, but was with... he bit his bottom lip and closed his eyes to hide what would probably be a far too revealing expression. Ever since the Final Battle, Harry'd had a lot of time to think, and he'd come to the realization that there was a reason he'd been so obsessed with Draco.

A reason that completely explained why he was currently in bed with someone that most people assumed he wanted to never see again. A reason that wanted to do exactly this again and again. As often as possible for as long as possible.

Harry let out a happy sigh at the thought. Then Draco arched his back and dug his nails into Harry's shoulder blades. A noise came from Draco that sounded like someone turned the volume down on a long squeal. At the same time, there was a magical rippling on Harry's shaft that made him lose all control again, pumping Draco full.

The world went white for a moment, and then Harry collapsed onto Draco and tried to catch his breath. He would have rolled over, but Draco held onto him so that he couldn't. The gorgeous Slytherin was also panting and trying to catch his breath, but he also sounded just a little like he was purring.

The two of them inadvertently took a nap. Woke up around midnight, and called for tea and biscuits since they were starving. Draco quickly – but with more decorum than Harry – ate a biscuit before downing his tea. Then he frowned at his empty cup because it had tasted terrible. Had the elves burned his tea somehow?

Before he could decide if he wanted to call for a house elf to ask what had gone wrong with his tea, Harry distracted him with a kiss.

“Eating biscuits while naked in your bed has got to be my new favorite thing to do.”

Draco laughed. “Oh really? Even more than...” Draco grabbed Harry's hand and placed it on a posh and cushy arse.

Harry moaned in longing. “Well... I suppose you're right. This _is_ better.”

This time, they weren't so overcome by lust. They had fun simply exploring each other with their hands and tongues. It was at least an hour before Draco grew impatient and insisted that they shag again.

“Potter, if you don't get back inside me _this instant,_ I swear I will hex you blind and have a house elf Apparate you back outside the gate of the Manor!”

Harry laughed. “There's no need to threaten me, Malfoy. I'm more than happy to comply.”

Much like the first time, Harry divided his attention in two. Half of his attention was on maintaining a perfect angle and pace – which he had a little difficulty finding again. The other half was devoted to kissing the gorgeous blond – something he was still more than a little in awe that he got to do. It really felt like a dream, except that it was far too realistic to be a dream.

This time when Harry filled Draco up, he literally passed out. Draco chuckled and held Harry tight as he enjoyed the bliss of his own orgasm. Then he rolled them so that he could use Harry as a pillow.

In the morning, Harry pinched himself to see if he was dreaming, and then kissed Draco awake. Draco responded to the kiss with a moan of longing until he realized that his mouth tasted – and probably smelled – horrible. He sat up abruptly in mild horror.

“Morning Potter. I just have to go take a shower. I'll be right back!”

Harry tilted his head and watched in confused amusement as Draco fled into the en suite bathroom. “Is something wrong?”

Draco stopped in the doorway of the bathroom and looked back at Harry. “Not at all, I just...” he trailed off with a shrug.

Harry smiled. “Maybe I should take a shower with you?”

Draco grinned. “If you do that, it'll be hours before we finish up and eat breakfast, and I'm rather hungry. Just give me a few minutes. Then we'll eat breakfast. Then we'll go back to bed.”

“Alright,” Harry agreed reluctantly. If he were honest, he was torn between insisting on joining the shower and not. He was also very hungry and he was more than a little certain that Draco was right about how they'd end up not eating for hours if they got all naked and wet together.

However, the mental image was intriguing enough that Harry slipped out of bed, half determined to join anyway.

Just then, a house elf popped into the room. “Master has finished with today's paper and says that Master Draco should read it as soon as possible.”

Harry took the paper from the elf and looked it over even as the elf left. The paper was open to what looked to be the third or fourth page. At the top was a bold headline that read: _Draco Malfoy – son and sole Heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Malfoy – is officially engaged to Astoria Greengrass._ The article went on to explain how the two families were part of the Sacred 28 and that the match was a good one that would surely produce an Heir to carry on the Malfoy name.

Harry stopped reading at that point, feeling a bit like someone had just stabbed him in the chest. After the night he'd just had, he had foolishly believed that there would be something lasting. That this had been the start of something... good...

But obviously, he was wrong.

Gathering up his clothes and still clenching the paper in one fist, Harry Disapparated.

 

***

 

Harry tore at his hair again as he turned and paced, still in front of the gate without the courage to ring the bell. After that one night, Harry had fled from England altogether. He'd traveled the world and... basically fucked around. Literally.

Traumatized by the fact that his first time had been so glorious – well no, that's not what traumatized him. What had actually traumatized him was the fact that it was a one off. He'd always thought that he'd save his virginity for marriage – or at least the _person_ he hoped to marry, only...

Anyway, he'd overreacted by getting drunk and pulling lovers from muggle clubs around the world until he was certain that he was gay. Then he got a little depressed by the fact that none of them were as good as his first time had been, so – in a search for what was missing – he'd gone to specialized clubs. Sex clubs.

That had actually been rather fun. He'd learned a lot about himself. For example, he was a switch in just about every meaning of the term. He loved to be the dominate just as much as he loved to be the submissive. He loved to pamper his sexual partner every bit as much as he loved to be pampered. And while yes, he was definitely gay, he could have sex with women if they dominated him just right. But that was rare.

Anyway, one day, Ron and Hermione had tracked him down. It had been a few years since they'd last seen him, and they were afraid he might have died. For the first seven or so years, he had made it a point to visit them at the Burrow or in their flat on their birthdays, his birthday, and Christmas. After that, he'd joined a club in France that kept him too occupied to keep track of time.

A person hasn't _lived_ until they've explored all their sexual deviances in France! – which could arguably be called the birthplace of the alternative sexual lifestyle.

Anyway, when his best friends didn't receive more than a post card from him for the third year in a row, they took it upon themselves to make sure he hadn't been captured by dark wizards and murdered. What they found was almost as shocking.

Harry had actually set up wards around his flat and the club so that reporters and fans couldn't track him down. Thus, Hermione'd had to use a bit of his hair to fuel a spell that was much like a Point-Me, but tailored specifically to Harry. Once they'd narrowed it down to Paris (owl delivered postcards didn't have location information on them like muggle post did, so they weren't sure), Ron flew them around on his broom until the spell pointed straight at a particular building.

They surveyed the building cautiously, half certain that it belonged to dark wizards, but all they found were the wards Harry had set up to keep people from finding him. This puzzled them. With a nod of agreement at each other, they entered the club.

Immediately, a gorgeous and friendly pair of hosts were all over them. One was a man and the other a woman. Both wore highly revealing clothes reminiscent of muggle lingerie. The man kissed Hermione's hand while the woman groped Ron's arse and gave him a thorough kiss.

“Welcome to Le Petit Mort,” the man greeted with a grin, bowing to Hermione as if she was a noble born lady. He'd said this in french, but Hermione'd already cast a translation spell on them so that they could talk to anyone they came across on their quest to find Harry.

“We're looking for a friend of ours,” Hermione said, tossing a light glare at her husband, who was so flustered that he hadn't quite gathered up the courage to push the woman kissing him away. “His name is Harry; he has black hair, green eyes, and a distinctive scar on his forehead.” She ended by tracing the lightning bolt on her own head.

The woman pulled free from Ron and grinned at Hermione even as the man swept his arms out joyously.

“Oh yes, 'Arry!” The woman purred, rubbing herself on Ron like a cat.

“He's quite popular,” the man added. “Come, I'll show you!”

Ron and Hermione followed the scantily clad man, both rather relieved that the woman stayed behind in case someone else entered the club.

The man gave them a fairly in-depth tour of the club. He showed them the area where some couples or groups danced or frotted. He showed them the tables where some of the patrons ate drank or made out as they liked. He showed them the semi private rooms in which a few orgies were in progress. Not once did he mention or explain why more than half the people were naked and the rest nearly so.

That seemed a bit self explanatory once they realized that they were in a sex club. Ron and Hermione exchanged curious glances. Was Harry really _here_?

The man led them down a set of wide stairs. At the bottom, they traveled along a hallway, passing rooms in which some people were being massaged while others bathed in a positively sumptuous bathhouse. Alarmingly, there was a room that looked every bit like a cliché dungeon where some people were being whipped or beaten by others.

To their relief, Harry was not in that room.

 _Finally,_ they found Harry in a dim room that was lit rather romantically by dozens of fat candles. He wore shiny black leather trousers decorated with gleaming steel zippers and chains. On his feet were thick and heavy black boots with shiny metal hooks for his laces, and sort of covering his chest was a sheer shirt made out of a muggle fabric that looked like some sort of soft netting in a silvery shade. It did nothing to hide the large tattoo of a dragon on his back.

“Is this too tight?” Harry asked as he pulled on a rope. The man he was tying up shivered and moaned happily. “No... could be tighter.”

Harry inclined his head but didn't tighten the rope too much more for safety reasons. He then bound the man to a life-sized wooden replica of the cross. _The_ cross. The man nearly purred when Harry was finished.

“How's that? Comfortable?” Harry asked, and upon receiving a nod, shifted his attention to a woman that had been suspended near the ceiling. He lifted his hand and stroked her cheek. “And what about you? Ready to come down now? You're getting close to the maximum safe amount of time.”

It took her a moment, but then she nodded. “Yeah... alright...” Her voice was a soft and slightly hoarse whisper. Harry carefully lowered her into his arms, released the ropes that had held her to the ceiling, and then carried her to an empty massage table so that he could untie her.

“Er...” Ron droned with a raised brow. “What're you doing?”

Harry looked up, startled but well-trained enough not to gasp or jump and scare his charges. “Ron!” He exclaimed in a soft whisper. “Hermione! What are you doing here?”

“It's been three years since we've seen you and we got worried,” Hermione informed him softly, intuitively understanding that the people in this room might react very badly to loud noises.

Harry gestured to the other untied man in the room – aside from the host, who was waiting to make sure that Ron and Hermione really were Harry's friends and not just trying to get into the club without being vouched for. “Can you take over for me?”

“Sure,” the man agreed.

Harry hugged his friends, which signaled the host to return to his post. As he led them toward the exit of the club, he softly tried to explain what he could and answer their questions. However, he kept getting interrupted as all his favorite lovers that weren't currently tied up or being submissive flocked to him to ask why he was leaving so soon. Harry soon realized that it was just easiest to give them kisses and send them off.

Which also shocked his friends, but by this point, they had figured out that Harry more than likely did things in this club that they didn't really want to think about.

In any case, they'd stayed with him for nearly a week before they managed to convince him that if he still wasn't ready to come home, he should at least do something more productive than have a copious amount of kinky sex in a club. It took Harry nearly a month to properly say goodbye to all his new friends, but then he traveled the world once more. This time, he tried to find himself.

Just exactly _who_ was he?

Gradually, he had to admit that _that_ was a question that he may never fully answer. In the meantime, he stumbled across something that he wanted to do with his life. Help snakes. And lizards.

Yeah, it was a weird calling, but he loved every moment of it. He not only rescued and rehabilitated snakes and lizards that were improperly cared for by well-meaning but clueless owners, but also had a collection of magical snakes from around the world. Now that he was fairly sure that he had “found” himself, he was back in Britain.

Not just back in Britain, but back in the Wizarding World. He had just opened a shop in Diagon Alley where he could educate people about and sell snakes and lizards of almost every breed. He knew that he was more concerned with the education aspect of his shop than the selling snakes part, so it was lucky that he didn't need to earn an income to support himself.

Harry shook his head and sighed. Not _only_ was he back, but he was being stupid and embarrassing himself by pacing back and forth in front of the gate to Malfoy Manor. He _wasn't_ here to ask Draco for another one off, which hell! If he was, he'd at least be confident.

No. He was trying to gather up the courage to do something far more... vulnerable. He wanted to ask Draco to be his friend.

See, in all the time that Harry had been playing around in clubs, he had never once truly stopped being obsessed with Draco. He managed to stop thinking about him constantly, but if Harry was ever alone, the haughty Slytherin Prince popped into his head and refused to leave.

Harry'd eventually had to admit that he was more than a little in love with the infuriating git, and that not even more than a decade – thirteen long years – had diminished his feelings. So, even though Draco was married and probably even had kids with his wife, Harry wanted to form some sort of relationship with him. Which meant that he'd have to gather up his courage and stop pacing in front of the gate before he died of old age.

However, he was fairly sure that he was being stupider than usual. Yes, holding onto a crush for over a decade was probably stupid in and of itself. Fancying himself in love with someone who more than likely considered him nothing more than a one off was even worse – especially since Harry had now become very accustomed to the concept of sex with no strings attached. But combine that with the fact that Draco was a _married man_ – whom he was visiting just to say hi – and...

Harry sighed so heavily that he felt like there was no air left in his lungs.

“What am I supposed to say? 'Oh hey there, I was just in the neighborhood and I thought I'd drop by.' Yeah! That'll sound _so_ not suspicious!” Harry snorted derisively, and then growled and tore at his hair all over again. “Damn it! Get a hold of yourself, Harry! For Merlin's sake!”

“Were you going to ring the bell or just lurk and pace outside the gate muttering to yourself all day?”

Harry froze mid-stride. Slowly, he swiveled on the spot until he was looking at the owner of the soft and mildly condescending voice. Expecting a man who was 13 years older than he'd last seen Draco – who was more than likely still as gorgeous as ever – Harry was surprised to see a boy who could have been younger Draco's twin.

The boy was probably about twelve years old and every bit as pointy and adorable as Draco had ever been. However, the boy was wearing clothes that Draco wouldn't be caught dead in. From top to bottom, the boy wore a knit and ever so slightly slouchy black beanie that covered every bit of his – likely platinum blond – hair; a white tee shirt of a band (or so Harry assumed from what he could see) covered by a beat up black leather jacket; distressed denim trousers that were torn at the knees and had rips in other places; and comfortable looking trainers that were so grass-stained that Harry wondered what their original color had been.

For a moment, Harry had to seriously wonder if he had fallen into an alternate dimension. For one, this was quite possibly the _last thing_ he'd expect Draco's son to wear, and for two, it was June – almost July! Who in their right mind wore such hot clothes in the middle of summer??? Kids these days... Harry was tempted to shake his head.

Instead, he stammered out: “I'm, erm, looking for Malfoy. Er, Draco Malfoy.”

“My dad's not home. He's on a business trip.”

“Oh... So I was right, you're his son. You'd almost have to be, you look just like him,” Harry babbled nervously. He ran a hand through his hair again. “Er... what's your name?”

“Caelum,” the boy stated with a hint of a smile. “I can let my dad know you were looking for him when he gets home.”

“Erm, right!” Harry gushed, still feeling off kilter from meeting a boy who looked so much like Draco when they first went to Hogwarts – to the point that it was almost creepy. He pulled a card out of his pocket and handed it to Caelum through the gate. “Here's my address. I live in a flat above my shop in Diagon Alley. He can stop by anytime, or more likely, owl me.”

“Anything in particular you want to talk to him about?” Caelum asked, clearly curious.

Harry shook his head. “Not really. It's just, well, we went to school together, and then I left the country for a long time, and now that I'm back, I thought maybe we could... chat...”

Caelum studied Harry suspiciously for a long moment, then glanced at the card in his hand. “Harry Potter's Squamata Shop.” Caelum raised his brow. “Squamata? And wait! _Harry Potter?!_ ”

Harry chuckled. “Squamata is a fancy word for snakes and lizards. And yes, I'm really Harry Potter.”

“Wait, but, my dad always said that you hated him!” Caelum blurted out in alarm. As if protesting Harry's identity because it wasn't very likely for a former enemy to just drop in for a nice chat.

Harry chuckled again, this time nervously rubbing the back of his neck. “Well, I can understand why he'd think that. He hated me too. That said, I'd like to think that we've both grown up enough that we could have a simple chat without trying to kill one another.”

Caelum took a deep breath, as if fighting back the urge to whimper at the possibility that the great Harry Potter might want to hurt his dad. At the same time, he studied Harry's appearance more intently than ever. Harry felt awkward again, not quite sure what to say now.

To his relief, he heard a loud hissing sound that captured his attention. Nearby, a golden eagle had swooped down and captured some prey in it's talons. However, the prey was a large grass snake that successfully bit the eagle's head, prompting it to drop the snake.

The snake fell back to the ground, landing about a dozen yards from Harry with an audible thump. Harry rushed over to it, taking care not to get too close – although the snake was likely to play dead if it thought that Harry wanted to prey on it after the eagle had. That said, it may well have died from the fall.

“Oh, hey there. Are you alright?” Harry asked in parseltongue, which came out automatically when he was looking at snakes.

This surprised the snake. Enough that it stopped playing dead – belly up – to twist around and look up at Harry. “You're not a snake.”

“No, I'm human, but if you're hurt, I can help you get better,” Harry offered.

The snake was silent for a moment. “I do hurt. I think the big fall killed my eggs.”

Harry paled in concern. Normally, healing an injured snake was no more trouble than casting the right spell, but if the snake had broken eggs inside it – her – than Harry would need to perform a series of delicate spells to help remove them safely. This would require him bringing her back to his shop

“I can help, but you'll have to trust me. I'll need to bring you back to where I live in order to help you, but I have lots of frogs for you to eat. It'll take me a few days to help you get better, but then I'll bring you back here and let you go,” he promised.

The snake was silent for another long moment, but then made a soft hissing sound that was reminiscent of a human sigh. “Alright, I'll trust you, but only because I don't think I will live very long if the eggs inside me really have broken.”

With a nod, Harry carefully bent over and picked up the snake. She was about 115 CM in length and a lovey greenish gray with a yellow band around her neck and a black spot on each cheek. Her underside had a black and white checkered pattern, and a gentle examination proved that she did have a couple intact eggs. However, Harry was almost certain that she had a couple of broken eggs too. That was sad because snake eggs were softer and a bit leathery so that they could move and flex with a snake. This also made them a little bit sturdier, but obviously, they could still break during extenuating circumstances.

Harry looked up to find that Caelum had come out of the Manor's gate and gotten just close enough to see the snake. He was still a bit wary of Harry, but seemed confident that the house elf lurking nearby would protect him if necessary. Harry smiled at him reassuringly.

“It was nice meeting you, Caelum, but I've got to go now. This girl is in a bit of trouble and I need to help her,” he explained.

“You like snakes?” Caelum asked, and then blushed because he felt stupid. Harry had already said that he owned a shop for snakes.

Harry smiled at him again, much more warmly this time. “I do. Ever since I went to a zoo as a child and talked with a boa constrictor from Brazil – well actually, he was born in captivity. Anyway... maybe I'll see you again some time.”

Caelum barely had time to wave and say goodbye before Harry Disapparated.

 

***

 

Two days later, Harry was happily talking to a group of teenagers. They were obviously delighted to be done with school for the year and – somewhat embarrassingly – were excited to meet Harry. About a third of their questions were about Voldemort and the war. The rest of the questions were genuine interest in snakes. Harry was holding his favorite one – a tiny reddish brown and orange sand boa. It was an excitable creature, constantly slithering around Harry's hand and wrist in an attempt to find a safe place to hide. Fortunately – or unfortunately if you looked at it from the snake's perspective – Harry had cast a spell that made it impossible for the snake to actually escape. The snake didn't fear Harry and wasn't actively trying to escape, it was just in his nature to constantly seek out a hiding spot, and then bury himself in the sand as soon as possible.

The bell above the door of the shop rang to let him know that someone had just entered, but Harry didn't pay the newcomer any attention because there was a shop assistant on hand to deal with anything that didn't need Harry's personal attention.

“How big do sand boas get?”

“What do they eat?”

“Are they always so squirmy?”

Harry grinned. “They stay fairly small, not too much bigger than this. They understandably eat small prey – such as baby mice – and yes, they squirm a lot because they feel the need to find a hiding place. That said, they are fairly gentle and makes good pets – if that's what you're looking for.”

“Do birds mistake them for worms?” A new voice asked.

Harry looked up to find Caelum. He grinned and chuckled. “I suppose they would – if they could find them. Sand boas – or at least this bloke here – is native to the desert of East Africa. I'm not entirely sure if there are a lot of birds in the desert, but if there are, then yes, they probably eat sand boas.”

“Are they magical?” A girl wearing a Gryffindor scarf asked after glaring lightly at Caelum. Once again, Caelum was wearing ratty denim trousers and his worn black leather jacket. However, this time, he was wearing a blue shirt (that still seemed to have a band logo on it) and a matching knit beanie. Also once again, it completely covered his hair. In any case, Harry wasn't sure if the girl disliked him for what he was wearing, or if this was an instance of House rivalry.

“Er, no,” Harry stated with a shake of his head. “Well, not usually. There's one species of magical snake that breeds with whatever snake it finds, and thus, the babies are magical no matter what species they are. But I haven't found any of those snakes – that I can confirm anyway. It's really hard to determine if an ordinary looking snake is magical unless it does magic in front of me, and that's pretty rare so far.”

“Can I hold that snake?” A girl of about 16 asked. She seemed both shy and brave – as if she was almost too flustered to talk to Harry, but was genuinely and deeply interested in the snake.

Harry thought this over for a moment, and then slowly pulled out his wand and gestured to the girl's hand. When she nodded her permission, he cast a spell to make it so that the tiny boa couldn't escape her grasp.

“There, just don't try to give him to any of your friends,” Harry warned. “You won't be able to.”

With a nod of understanding, the girl focused her attention on the pretty little snake. Her friends all crowded around her so that they could take turns stroking the snake's body with their fingers.

“Emma, will you keep an eye on this lot for me?” Harry asked his assistant.

“Sure thing, Harry!” Emma called out from behind the counter, where she already was watching the group – since there wasn't anyone else in the shop.

Harry walked over to Caelum. “Hi. How are you today?”

“I'm good. You?” Caelum asked a bit gruffly.

“Good. What brings you here?” Harry wondered.

Caelum shrugged. “I couldn't stop thinking about that snake. Is she alright?”

Harry nodded. “Yeah. Or well, she will be. She's resting at the moment. You want to see her?”

Caelum nodded, looking cautious and more than a little suspicious. Making no sudden movements, Harry stepped away and beckoned for Caelum to follow. To his amusement, curiosity seemed to outweigh Caelum's natural wariness.

A minute later, they were in the backroom of Harry's shop. One of them. This one had been expanded and set up as something akin to a clinic. Harry wasn't an actual veterinarian or even a snake healer, but even so, in his efforts to rescue and rehabilitate snakes, he'd picked up quite a lot of useful spells and other ways to help and heal snakes. And lizards.

Harry pointed out the grass snake, which was apparently asleep and basking in the light and warmth of a gentle heat lamp. Also in the glass cage was a large flat container of water (kept cool with a charm). In the water was a fat toad that would make the perfect meal when the snake felt well enough to eat. The toad was as far away from the snake as it could get, staring at it balefully since it knew that it wouldn't be able to hide or escape. He reminded Harry a little of Trevor – Neville's (long dead) pet. He had to firmly push that thought out of his mind. Again.

“She's a rather pretty snake,” Caelum remarked softly.

“I think so too,” Harry murmured with a warm smile. “Even though she's called a grass snake, she likes water and is an excellent swimmer. She eats things like tadpoles, newts, small fish, and – of course – frogs and toads.”

Caelum laughed. “Maybe you should teach our Care of Magical Creatures class!”

“What? Did Hagrid retire?” Harry asked in concern.

Caelum shook his head. “No, and actually, I do rather like him, it's just that I'm not a third year yet, so I have no idea what he's like as a teacher. On the other hand, you seem well suited.”

Harry grinned. “Thanks! I'm glad you think so. However, I only really know about snakes and lizards, so I wouldn't be able to teach an entire course on Magical Creatures.”

“Oh,” Caelum murmured, sounding more than a little disappointed.

Harry wasn't sure what to do now, so he picked up a beautiful white and gray corn snake that had nearly starved to death when her owner moved to a place where pets weren't allowed and so the snake had been set free. That would normally be a good thing, but this particular snake had been born to a breeder and had never hunted live prey in her life. A concerned person spotted the emaciated snake and called animal control, who had put out word that there was a snake in need of rehabilitation, which had led to Harry taking her in.

Harry smiled at the snake and let her flick her tongue at him lazily. “This is Blizzard and she's really friendly. Now that she's had a few good meals, she's almost ready to be placed in a home. I'll probably have to pass her along to a muggle pet shop, since there aren't as many witches and wizards interested in non magical snakes as I'd like there to be.”

With a shy grin, Caelum held out his hand.

“She's not as likely to try to escape, and she probably won't bite, but even if she does, she's not venomous. At worst, it'll feel like a cat bite. But please try not to worry, she's used to being handled and hasn't bitten anyone yet.”

Before Caelum could respond to that, Emma called for Harry.

“I'll be right back.”

Caelum nodded in acceptance and waited while Harry took the little sand boa back and thanked the group of teens for visiting his shop. Caelum watched Harry give the departing crowd a knowing smirk – specifically aimed at the girl who'd held the boa. When Harry returned to the back room, he was chuckling.

“That girl will come back to buy this bloke the moment she can talk her parents into letting her,” Harry informed Caelum.

Caelum was currently rather busy trying to look at Blizzard, who had slithered up his arm and settled around his neck. She seemed quite taken with the boy. Caelum now looked a little nervous.

“Er... she won't strangle me, will she?”

Harry laughed softly. “No. She's not a constrictor. At approximately two feet long, she's more or less full grown. Wild corn snakes wouldn't be quite so friendly, but they're not aggressive either, which is why this breed is popular as pets.”

“I wonder if my dad would let me keep her,” Caelum murmured to himself.

“I couldn't even begin to guess,” Harry replied with a shrug. “Draco was in Slytherin, so I would think he'd have at least a little affinity for snakes. On the other hand, he was once forced to live with a large and terrifying snake, so perhaps he doesn't like them after all.”

Caelum smiled a bit grimly. “Dad told me about that. He said that there was once a man who seemed to uphold certain ideals that a lot of pureblood wizarding families believe in. However, over time, the man proved himself to be more concerned with himself and power. He didn't actually care about anything else, and used killing, torture, and fear to keep his followers under his control.”

“Yeah. That about sums it up,” Harry acknowledged.

“He tried to kill you,” Caelum added in a soft voice.

“Yes he did. A lot, actually,” Harry stated, a little surprised that Draco had talked about all of this with his son. Then he had to wonder if perhaps they taught it in school.

“But you killed him instead...”

Harry took a deep breath, and then slowly exhaled it. “Yeah... However, I wasn't trying to kill him. I was actually trying to capture him so that he could go to Azkaban, but we were dueling. He cast a Killing Curse and I countered with an Expelliarmus. My spell and the unique circumstances of the wands we were using made his spell backfire, which resulted in his death.”

Caelum looked at Blizzard, who was winding herself around his arm now, so that he didn't have to look at Harry. “We're not told specific details in school – just that you won the duel and defeated the Dark Lord – but my dad told me... He was in the crowd when it happened, and you were using his wand.”

Harry nodded. “I'm almost shocked that your dad told you so much.”

Caelum gave Harry a genuine and bright smile. “My dad's brilliant! He talks to me about everything. We go places and do lots of things together, and he tells me a lot about what it was like growing up. About how he was a mean prat and an arse. And other things. For example, he told me that before Grandpa got caught with an insanity curse and had to be committed to St. Mungo's, Grandpa used to be an incorrigible meddler. He had a lot of power and influence, and used both to always get his way – no matter what.”

“Lucius got what?!” Harry asked in astonishment.

Caelum looked down sadly. “It's not widely known. I probably shouldn't have told you, but... yeah. One day, when I was still a toddler, an unknown wizard in a mask took Grandpa by surprise when he was out – meeting with friends in a pub in Knockturn, dad thinks. The wizard cursed Grandpa, making him go insane and attack us and... Well, he had to be committed. He still tries to attack dad when dad goes to visit him.”

Harry looked at the red and orange boa in his hand. “I bet that makes your father very sad.”

“Yeah, I think it does,” Caelum agreed softly.

Harry was surprised to feel a nearly overwhelming urge to hunt Draco down and comfort him. Alternatively, he wondered how hard it would be to find the unknown wizard and bring him to justice. At the very least, maybe the wizard would know the counter curse that could restore Lucius to normal.

“On the other hand, dad says I make him happy,” Caelum added, lightening the suddenly heavy mood. “Each year for Christmas, dad takes me someplace warm. This last time, it was to a festive city called Rio. And each summer, we go camping – Dad always said he wished his parents had taken him camping when he was my age.”

“I can't picture Draco Malfoy camping...” Harry muttered wryly.

Caelum chuckled. “Yeah, apparently Malfoys are too refined for anything so common as camping. Even so, my dad takes me. We even dig in the dirt for worms to go fishing with!”

Harry grinned and let out a small laugh. “Now I _know_ you're having me on!”

Caelum shrugged as if saying: _believe what you will_.

Then he sighed. “I should probably get going. Thanks for letting me hold this pretty snake.”

Harry took Blizzard back with a fond smile. “Thanks for visiting. I hope you come back at least once more before it's time to return to Hogwarts.”

“I'll try,” Caelum promised.

 

***

 

For the next two months, Caelum would show up an average of three times a week. He always seemed fascinated by the snakes in Harry's shop. The lizards too. He was allowed far more time than anyone – other than Emma – holding them. He would be hard pressed to pick a favorite. Currently, he was leaning toward a lovely orangish tan bearded dragon. Which was a ferocious looking but rather docile little lizard.

Caelum would sit in the back room of the shop – a different one than the clinic, this one was more of a lounge – if Harry got busy. He'd listen to Harry talk about every reptile in his shop for hours – both when Harry was talking to others and when he was talking directly to Caelum. When no one else was in the shop – or when Emma was more than capable of handling the one or two customers who were – Harry and Caelum would drink tea, eat biscuits (that Harry baked himself) and just chat.

They talked a lot about Draco. Caelum told Harry many stories and anecdotes about Draco taking him to places around the world. Things that not only surprised Harry, but made him fall in love with Draco even more. According to Caelum, Draco was rather shockingly honest about his past and the mistakes he made. He'd vowed to be a better father to Caelum and did things to make good on his promise.

Such as: “One time, dad took me to the Amazon rainforest. We spent three days climbing trees and looking at all the colorful birds and other animals. The spiders there are huge – and a lot of them are so venomous that dad had to put protective charms on me so that they couldn't bite me!”

Harry chuckled at that. Once again, wondering if Caelum was telling him the truth, or if he was just such a lonely single child that he made up adventures in attempt to entertain Harry. Caelum swore he was telling the truth, and Harry was inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt.

As September drew nearer, the influx of students shopping for their impending return to school made Harry realize that it wouldn't be long before his young friend would be gone for the year. The thought made him incredibly sad.

Worse, it was obvious by now that Draco did not care to come see Harry – or even send him an owl. Harry doubted that Draco was _still_ away on business (because honestly, who could leave their kid alone for _that_ long?), thus the man had to have decided that he wanted nothing to do with Harry.

Thinking about Draco made Harry sadder than ever, but he hid this from Caelum. The boy was currently holding a beautiful, shimmering, coppery brown and black ball python. Harry bit his lip in thought and frowned as something occurred to him – again.

“Caelum? Er... why do you only talk about your dad? What about your mum? Or Narcissa? How is she doing?”

Caelum looked over at Harry, and then tilted his head in mild confusion. “My grandmother... She died, when... When grandpa was cursed and attacked us. She...” he shrugged, looking a bit helpless. “She apparently tried to fight grandpa, hindering him from casting spells at my dad – who was holding me and Apparated me to safety. What exactly he found when he returned to the Manor is the one thing he refuses to tell me.”

“Oh, erm... I'm sorry to hear that. I always – well maybe not _always_ – but anyway, I was fond of her,” Harry murmured sadly.

There was a heavy silence for a moment before Harry tried again. “And... your mum?” He was now fervently _praying_ that the unknown woman – probably Astoria Greengrass – had not died when Narcissa did.

Caelum shook his head with a deep frown. “I don't have a mother. I only talk about my dad because he's all I have. It's not like my other parent wanted me.” As he said this, he focused on the bearded dragon, and as much as he tried to sound like he didn't care, a little hint of bitterness bled through anyway.”

“Not want you!” Harry blurted out in baffled shock. “How could anyone not want you?! You are without a doubt the coolest kid I know. If I could have kids, I'd want one just like you,” Harry ended, and then shut up before he started to sound insincere and like he was just reassuring his young friend.

Caelum frowned in confusion. “What do you mean if you could?”

Harry shrugged. “Well... I'm gay, so... Kids are out of the question unless I decide to have a friend carry one for me. The adoption agencies are all reluctant to let a single man adopt – which I've only really started looking into recently, but yeah. Not even the Ministry is eager to give _The Savior_ a child. Then again, there really aren't too many orphaned magical children right now – and this is more than you really need to know,” Harry trailed off with a mildly embarrassed blush.

Caelum was suddenly staring at Harry with eyes so big and round that they looked perilously close to popping out of his head. He pressed his lips together as if holding back a flood of words. Then he jumped to his feet, thrust the lizard into Harry's hands, and took a step back.

“I've got to go!” Caelum half shouted, taking another step back. “I'll, er... I'll write you from Hogwarts.”

Harry felt an even deeper sense of sadness fill him as he realized that Caelum must feel some sort of homophobia. “Do you really have to go? I promise that I'm not, er, attracted to you.”

“Yes!” Caelum cried out, sounding almost panicked now. “I'm sorry, but – sorry!” And with that, Caelum turned and ran from the shop as if Fluffy the vicious three-headed dog was hot on his trail.

Harry sighed morosely. He had a sinking feeling that he would never see or hear from his young friend again. On the plus side, when Caelum told his father that Harry was a creepy old gay man who had been paying far too much attention to the boy all summer, Draco might actually come hex him. Which might actually accomplish the goal Harry had started the summer with.

Talking to Draco...

 

***

 

Caelum emerged from the floo in a righteous anger. He pulled his beanie – an emerald green one this time, to match his black and green tee shirt – off his head and clenched it in his fist as he stomped to the study where his father was more than likely researching a new potion.

Sure enough, Draco was in his study, but instead of research, he was currently relaxing with a cup of tea. He looked up at his son in surprise. The boy looked remarkably like Snape at the moment – his nose up in the air as he wore a scowl that the former potions master would be proud of.

“He doesn’t know! You never told him!! What is _wrong_ with you?! You said you made horrible choices when you were younger but that you changed! _Now_ I find out you made a horrible choice and never fixed it!!! How _dare_ you?! I don’t even know if I can trust you now!” Caelum ranted in a furious rush.

“What on Earth are you talking about?” Draco asked in genuine bafflement. “Never told who what? It’s not that I don’t love being scolded by my son, but I’d at least like to know what I did wrong.”

“You never told Harry Potter that he's my father!” Caelum roared in a tone of deep accusation.

Draco’s voice grew very soft and was an odd mix of sorrow and scolding parent. “I’d like to know how you know this - that I never told … _Harry_.”

“Erm... he may have... stopped by. That weekend when you were at that potions conference. And he may have mentioned the store he just opened in Diagon Alley. And I _may_ have stopped by and hung out with him in his shop three or four times...” Caelum looked away and blushed as he scratched his cheek and whispered. “Per week...”

“You _what_?!” Draco roared incredulously. “Why didn't you _tell_ me that?!”

Caelum glared at his father. “I told you that I was flooing to Diagon Alley and you gave me permission. It's not _my_ fault if you just assumed that I was meeting up with friends or something!”

“Yes it is!” Draco exclaimed emphatically. “It very much is your fault for not telling me such important information!”

Caelum growled. “If I had, you would have told me not to go.”

Draco was disconcerted to find himself stuttering incoherently. Part of him wanted to say that he would have let Caelum go, but another part of him was not certain his son was wrong. Caelum took this as his cue to return to the more pressing topic.

“The entire time, I thought that he knew about me and was just suffering through my visits out of pity or something, but today, Harry told me that he couldn't have kids because he's gay. It took me a moment to figure it out, but then I realized that he doesn't know that wizards can get pregnant if they take the right potion. And _that_ made me realize that _he doesn't know I'm his son!_ ”

Draco sighed heavily and gestured for his son to take a seat. “Caelum... Please try to understand. I didn't tell Harry about you because the two of us never got along. Even that day... We started in a fight and ended up creating you. He simply played along until I left the room to take a shower, and then he disappeared and I never heard from him again. There were days when I thought about telling him. There were plenty of days when I _wanted_ to tell him, but I had no idea where he was or how to tell him. I couldn't very well tell him something so important in a letter – and because of who he is, I'm almost certain that owls wouldn't have gotten through his wards anyway. So...” Draco shrugged helplessly.

“You could have _tried_ ,” Caelum insisted a bit petulantly.

“If he had ever come back, I would have,” Draco murmured softly.

“Well... he did come back, you were just gone at the time. Maybe you should try telling him now.”

Draco pulled his son into a hug and rubbed his back. “I'll think about it.”

 

***

 

Draco paced his bedroom that night, tempted to pull on his delicate and silky hair. Caelum wanted him to tell Harry the truth, but what could Draco say?

_Er, sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but one of my house elves – one that has cared for me since I was born – took it upon herself to slip me a fertility potion so that when we shagged, we ended up creating a baby._

Yeah... There was probably _no way_ that Harry would believe that. He'd be more likely to think that Draco had taken the potion on purpose. It actually was a rather Slytherin thing to do, so maybe Harry would assume that Draco took advantage of the situation in order to... Trap Harry perhaps? Force Harry to have some sort of relationship with Draco?

To be honest, if Draco _had_ thought ahead quickly enough to take the potion on purpose, he would have done so in order to A: have the heir his father wanted him to have without having to marry some proper pureblood wife, and B: have a child with the most powerful wizard in the world. The fact that Draco was utterly in love with Harry had no bearing on the matter. It simply would have been a bonus.

Actually, it _was_ a bonus! Draco had gotten to have one glorious night with the person he'd had a crush on since at least Fourth Year and had obsessed over since the day they met. And that night had resulted in a baby.

At first, Draco had no idea about that. All he knew was that when he returned from his shower, instead of the promised breakfast and potential more time in bed, Harry had been gone. He'd just _left_ – without even saying goodbye or leaving a note. It had thoroughly depressed Draco for days. Weeks!

He'd gone over and over it. Had Harry shown up – on Draco's birthday, no less – with the excuse of returning Draco's wand with the intention of giving Draco a pity fuck? But wait, he had claimed to be a virgin. A Gryffindor virgin wouldn't pull such a trick. A Slytherin might, but a Gryffindor?

But was Harry really a virgin? Most virgins didn't talk like they planned to stay only to run off the first chance they got. At least Draco didn't think they did. But nothing made sense, not one single bit.

Draco got so miserable that he made himself sick. Or at least that was what he thought when he started vomiting frequently. When he finally thought to tell his house elf to ask his mother to make an appointment for him at St. Mungo's, his house elf had simply smirked at him knowingly and told him that there was nothing to worry about. Draco was simply pregnant.

Draco reeled in shock from this news for so long that Muffy (his elf) worried that something else might be wrong with him too. Draco gathered up his wits and made the appointment on his own so that he could confirm the news and wrap his head around it before telling his parents. They had understandably been shocked too, but it had given Draco the leverage he'd needed to put a stop to his father's scheming.

The wedding that Lucius had been arranging without any input from Draco was suddenly canceled. Astoria's parents refused to let their daughter marry a man who had gotten himself in trouble. _That_ kind of trouble – which still mattered to old fashioned pureblood families. It mattered to his parents every bit as much, but they loved him enough to accept the baby.

Until Lucius was cursed and tried to kill them all. Draco never once let Lucius see Caelum after that. No need to take chances and risk the most precious member of the Malfoy family.

In any case, telling Harry now was... terrifying actually. There were so many ways that Harry could react, and Draco imagined that none of them would be a simple: “Oh really? I have a son? Fabulous! Let's get together and be a real family.”

Draco sighed in mild depression. After all this time, Draco hadn't married anyone because secretly, buried way down deep in his mind, was the frail hope that maybe, one day, Harry would come back and... want a relationship. On days when Draco had a little privacy to get utterly drunk, he foolishly let himself dream that they'd even get married!

But those were just dreams. Harry obviously wanted nothing to do with him since it had taken almost exactly 13 years (plus a few weeks) for Harry to return. And even that was probably nothing important. Maybe he was simply hoping for another one off to last another 13 years.

The sad thing... the thing that made Draco hate himself... was that he would have agreed without a single protest. Worse, he might well have slipped himself another fertility potion on the way to bed!

No... There was no way that Draco could tell Harry everything now. He might as well hex himself and save Harry the trouble.

 

***

 

Harry still felt strangely bereft over the fact that Caelum hadn't returned at all before September first when he went to the Burrow for dinner. Ever since coming home, he'd made it a point to attend the weekly dinners at least once a month. The Weasleys were his only family in the world, and he still felt bad about basically abandoning them for so many years.

That said, Molly never said a word about it. She simply squashed him in a tight hug, pushed him toward the table, and steadily filled his plate with as much as she could.

“You're still far too thin!” She always clucked in dismay.

Harry rather like the way he looked, but rather than protest, he simply smiled at Molly and ate as much as he wanted before packing the rest away for later. This particular dinner contained a surprise for all of them. Charlie came home for the first time in ages. Not quite as long as Harry had been away, but close.

He still lived and worked in Romania with dragons. With a hearty laugh, Charlie clamped a strong hand on Harry's shoulder. “Ron tells me that you've got a tattoo of a dragon on your back!”

Harry grinned. “Yeah, it's actually a wizarding tattoo, but I trained it to stay perfectly still when I'm around muggles. Otherwise, she – I think of her as female for some reason – anyway, she can climb around my back and even fly if she wants.”

“Can I see it?” Charlie asked with interest.

“Sure, why not?” Harry asked with a shrug just before he stripped off his light jumper. He had long since lost all modesty and it didn't occur to him that maybe the Weasleys might be uncomfortable with his naked chest. Fortunately, having six boys in the family meant that even Ginny had seen more than her fair share of male nudity and wasn't bothered by it.

Especially since Ginny had been married to Viktor Krum for years and was well used to seeing him pose nude for things like Quidditch Calendars and exclusive fan posters.

Charlie stood behind Harry and inspected the tattoo with an expert eye. “She's not a Hungarian Horntail – which I would have lost a fortune on had I been betting. She's not a Common Welsh Green nor a Swedish Short-snout nor _any_ breed I recognize.”

Harry laughed. “Yeah, I had a sort of picture in my head of a mythical muggle dragon. I suppose she probably looks more like a Common Welsh Green than anything, but I wanted her done in shades of gray with golden eyes – like a ruthless predator. I've also got a tattoo of a gorgeous Rainbow Python winding up my left leg.”

Charlie grinned a bit lecherously. “Really? Can I see?”

“I think that's probably best left for after we're done eating,” Harry informed him with a laugh as he put his jumper back on.

Charlie slapped him on the back jovially. “I look forward to it!”

Everyone ate and chatted for a while. It was so loud in the room that it was hard to follow any one conversation. Harry couldn't believe how much he missed these messy and chaotic discussions!

Eventually, Molly snapped her fingers three times to signal a request for silence. “Oi! Quiet down! Quiet – there we go. Thanks my loves. Now then, Charlie, what brings you home today?”

Charlie grinned at her. “I have the best news.”

“Oh?” Molly asked with interest. “What news?”

Charlie's grin changed to a softer, happier smile. “I'm... pregnant.”

“Oh that's wonderful!” Molly burst out, actually leaping from her chair to smother him in a hug.

“Hang on!” Harry roared incredulously. “That _can't_ be true!”

“Why not?” Ron asked curiously.

“Blokes can't have babies!” Harry exclaimed, wondering why no one else seemed to understand this.

“Well no,” Ron admitted. “However, wizards can take a potion and grow a temporary womb.”

Charlie nodded, still enjoying a hug from his mother. He was almost ten years older than Harry, so it made sense that Molly had probably given up on him ever having kids. “Yeah, when Jean-Francois finally convinced me (after more than five years) that he was serious about being with me, he suggested having kids. I agreed because I've always wanted a son to take after me – not that I would force him to. Or be disappointed if he turned out to be a daughter. Anyway, the point is that I agreed and took a potion and now,” he ended with a sweeping motion to indicate his still mostly flat abdomen.

“Wow...” Harry exhaled in awe. “I didn't know... I had no idea! This is excellent news!”

Charlie chuckled knowingly. “Why?”

Harry looked to the ceiling as if he was seeking divine guidance. “It means that I could have kids too.”

“Is that something you want?” Hermione asked curiously.

“Yeah,” Harry admitted in a soft and hopeful voice. “I always have, I just didn't think I'd ever have any once I realized that I'm gay.”

Hermione reached over and squeezed his hand. “I would have carried one for you if you'd asked. As a surrogate. But we're both thinking like muggles. If it's true that wizards can get pregnant and you want to have kids that way, then I'm happy for you.”

George gave Harry a heckling grin. “Now all you need is to find a donor!”

Harry chuckled. “I really don't think that'll be hard. … Unless muggles won't work.”

Charlie shrugged. “They should. It's the bloke _carrying_ the baby that has to have enough magic.”

Harry nodded happily. “I think I don't have to worry about that then either.”

“Good luck!” They all wished him, happy that he was finally settling down and starting a _real_ life after so many years of just... existing...

 

***

 

Harry felt a small thrill run through him when he realized that Caelum actually had written him. It was a week before Halloween, so enough time had passed that Harry had assumed that Caelum had either forgotten him, forgotten his promise to write, or just plain decided that he wanted nothing to do with Harry. But no! Here was a letter!

A rather thin latter, but still.

Harry read it eagerly.

 _Dear Harry, as you probably remember, the first Quidditch match of the season – between Gryffindor and Slytherin – is scheduled for the first weekend in November. I'd love it if you came to watch me play. I may not have been the_ youngest _seeker in a century, but I'm still rather good. Almost as good as my father! Anyway, hope to see you there, sincerely, Caelum Malfoy_

Harry took a deep breath and smiled in relief. It sounded like Caelum wasn't holding the whole gay thing against Harry after all. It probably just took him by surprise and he'd likely needed a little time to get used to it. But now, things sounded back to normal.

Harry spent a few minutes wondering if it was strange for a grown man to be this attached to a kid as a friend. Especially a kid belonging to his biggest school rival. But then Harry remembered that he'd been friends with Hagrid as a kid – as had Ron and Hermione – and so it wasn't so strange after all.

All in all, he was looking forward to the match.

 

***

 

“Harry!” McGonagall cried out in delight. “What brings you here?”

“Headmistress,” Harry greeted with a smile, glad he had caught her on his way to the Quidditch pitch. “I'm here to watch the game.”

“Really?” McGonagall asked in surprise.

“Yep, my friend Caelum invited me,” Harry informed her.

“Oh... well, yes, the students playing in the game are allowed to invite people to watch them, but generally only family members.”

“Why don't I remember that?” Harry asked himself more than McGonagall.

McGonagall smirked at him. “Probably because you never had anyone to invite.”

“That's true, but... well, I don't remember ever seeing parents in the stands. I'd think that the Malfoys would have come at the very least, and that would have made an impression, don't you think?” Harry wondered.

McGonagall shrugged. “I'm actually fairly certain that Draco Malfoy never invited his parents to any game he thought he might lose, and so, you wouldn't have seen them.” Then she chuckled. “Also, I don't think many children remember to invite their parents since there's maybe one or two at any given match.”

“Ah. That makes sense,” Harry murmured.

“Anyway, the parents and any other visitors to the game are expected to sit in the Headmaster's – er _Headmistress'_ box. Come. I'll be glad for the company.”

Harry smiled at his former Head of House. “It's good to see you again. It's been too long.”

McGonagall smiled at him in return. “Yes, it has. What have you been up to?”

Harry fished out and handed her a business card. “Helping snakes.”

“Ah,” McGonagall remarked dryly. “You must be the reason that so many parents are suddenly requesting permission for their children to bring pet snakes to school.”

Harry grinned. “Honestly, snakes make better pets – from the perspective of how troublesome they are to the school – than cats, owls, or toads. They eat less and they are usually content to stay in their cages – thus out of your way.”

McGonagall gave him a tight smile. “I suppose you'll be glad to hear that the board of governors and I have come to the same conclusion. We will be allowing snakes from now on.”

Harry couldn't help but pump one fist in triumph and softly hiss: “Yes!”

McGonagall gave him a slightly bigger smile. “Perhaps you could make a special visit out here each spring to give an elective guest class on snakes.”

“And lizards,” Harry added with a grin. “And I'd be honored to.”

By this time, they had reached the Headmistress' box. The sole occupant turned toward them to greet McGonagall: “Good day Head – _Potter?!_ ” He blurted out in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

“Caelum invited me. I hope that's alright with you,” Harry murmured, trying his best to be mild and agreeable so that Draco would have no reason to get mad and send him away.

“Er... Yeah. I suppose it is,” Draco muttered, and then hastily looked back at the pitch as if the game was already in progress and he needed to pay close attention to it.

“I do hope I won't have to Petrify you both so that you get along,” McGonagall told them dryly.

“We'll be fine,” Harry assured her. “Right, Malfoy?”

Draco simply nodded, then grumbled something that sounded like: “Right.”

With a satisfied nod, McGonagall walked over to the side of the box that was next to the announcer's box – which was next to the Gryffindor stands. She needed a word with the new announcer – who was a Hufflepuff and rather timid. He was the only person interested in the job and she sincerely prayed that the third year would dig deep and manage to be heard over the roaring crowd.

Harry took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, gathered up every ounce of Gryffindor bravery he could find, and walked over to Draco. “Hello.”

Draco gave him a startled look. “Hello...” he replied slowly. Cautiously.

“Caelum's a good kid. I glad I met him,” Harry stated with a fond smile. “He says that he's almost as good a seeker as you are.”

“Really?” Draco asked with interest. “We've only ever played the occasional one on one seekers matches, so I'm not sure how he could gauge our relative skill in matches against other teams, but I'll take the compliment.”

Harry chuckled. “When I first saw him, I really thought I was looking at you as a first year again. I wondered if you had been cursed or something, but he quickly let me know that you were his dad and away on business. Then I got sidetracked by an injured snake.”

“Harry Potter to the rescue again, eh?” Draco asked in amusement.

Harry shrugged and nodded. “Er, something like that. It's actually my job – rescuing snakes and lizards, that is.”

“I heard about that,” Draco murmured softly.

Before Harry could say anything else, the two teams came out onto the field. Unlike Harry – who had always looked serious and focused when he was about to play (and often rather nauseous and nervous) – Caelum looked confident and happy. He wore Slytherin green, which surprised Harry for a moment because he honestly thought that Caelum acted more like a Gryffindor at times. That said, he _was_ Draco Malfoy's son, so...

As Madam Hooch insisted on a clean game and had the captains shake hands, Caelum pulled his habitual beanie off his head. This revealed a shock of thick black hair that was flying about every which way from the static of the knit hat. Harry chuckled because he well knew what it was like to have wild hair that obeyed nothing short of divine intervention. He was surprised that Caelum didn't have platinum blond hair though.

As if reading his thoughts, Draco nervously edged away from him a bit.

The teams took to the air and Harry watched with a strange sense of pride as Caelum zoomed around the field. Of course, the only Heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Malfoy was riding a top of the line broom. His movements were natural and fluid, which impressed Harry.

He glanced at Draco, thinking that while Draco had undeniably been a good seeker, he'd been nothing compared to Harry. In Harry's opinion, Caelum was better than Draco – almost as good as Harry. Possibly better than Harry when he was in his First and Second Years and still new to flying, since Caelum (a Second Year) obviously had a lot of practice at it already.

Harry tilted his head to the side as he watched Caelum scan the field for the snitch. Caelum's every feature was exactly the same as Draco's – aside from that inexplicable black hair. Even so, the expressions on Caelum's face were expressions that Draco never once wore in school. Instead of being entitled and snide, Caelum looked... playful and a bit cocky. Expressions more fitting for a Gryffindor. Such as Harry.

Caelum spotted the snitch and chased after it, but it disappeared by the time he got to where it had been. So, deciding he had a moment to take a tiny break, he flew to the box where Harry and Draco were standing (neither wanting to sit for some reason). Harry was leaning on the sturdy railing while Draco seemed almost awkward nearly two feet off to the side. Caelum grinned at them both and waved.

Harry smiled and returned the wave, and then closed his eyes and frowned as he reviewed the action in his mind. Draco's hands had always been thin and delicate looking with long fingers. Everything about Draco was long and thin, even – Harry smirked at the private mental image he loved to visualize whenever he was alone.

Anyway, Caelum had shorter, wider hands and fingers. They seriously reminded him of someone, but he couldn't quite figure out who. Opening his eyes, Harry located Caelum once more. Caelum was currently leading the Gryffindor seeker on a merry chase – a move Harry had performed on Draco more than once.

Caelum's wild black hair fluttered about in the wind, almost as if it had a mind of its own. Harry smirked, finding it ironic and more than a little hilarious that Draco's son had hair just like his. How would that happen anyway? It's not like –

Harry felt his mind come crashing to a halt; his every thought derailing as a shocking possibility hit him. He gasped, feeling like someone actually had punched him in the gut. He even pressed a hand to his stomach as he tried to catch his breath.

Both Draco and McGonagall took a step closer to him out of concern.

“Alright there, Harry?” McGonagall asked with a soft frown.

But Harry didn't hear her as several things collided in his mind to make a sort of sense that was so profound that Harry really did feel like sicking up. He turned to glare at Draco. “ _He's mine?!_ ”

Draco went very pale, almost paler than he'd ever been before. He swallowed a few times, but – unable to remember words – only managed to nod his head.

Harry felt like his stomach dropped clean out of his body. He gasped again, trying to remember how to breathe. “Merlin's rotting brain! Does _he_ know?”

Unable to meet Harry's eyes, Draco simply nodded again.

“Merlin Godric and Dumbledore!” Harry blurted out in shock. “ I have a son!” He had to slap a hand over his mouth as he nearly vomited. After a few swallows – and possibly a stomach settling spell from a very concerned McGonagall – Harry added: “And he thinks I don't want him!”

Just then, Caelum roared with triumph as he caught the snitch and help it high above his head to show it off. The Slytherin supporters in the crowd went wild with cheering. The Gryffindor supporters suddenly looked close to tears, some actually wailing or sobbing.

McGonagall decided that it would be prudent to leave the two men alone for a bit. She also signaled Madam Hooch orders to detain Caelum before his team could carry him off to celebrate. Madam Hooch quickly complied. Caelum entered the Headmistress' box a few minutes after she had left it. Most of the stands had already cleared out.

“Dad! Did you see me?!” Caelum asked, throwing his arms around Draco. Draco – who had been returning Harry's silent but intense stare – accepted and returned the hug.

“I did. You were brilliant,” Draco assured his son. Caelum looked to Harry, who inclined his head at Draco in a way that was clearly asking for permission. Draco nodded, granting it.

Harry gave Caelum a tight hug. “I'm so proud of you. You really are an excellent flier. But there's one thing you're wrong about.”

“Oh?” Caelum asked in confusion. He wasn't stupid – having inherited Draco's observational skills. He could see that there was an enormous amount of tension between the two men. Even so, he wondered if Harry was referring to his sneaky plan to get these two dunderheads to talk to each other by inviting them both to the game. He'd been so sure that they'd try to work things out – since it was obvious that his dad was never going to gather up the courage to do so otherwise.

Harry nodded as if agreeing with Caelum's thought. “Yes. We'll talk more about it later, but I just want you to know that I _do_ want you. I would have been there for you had I known.”

Elated beyond words, Caelum hugged Harry so hard that he couldn't breathe – not that he was complaining. Rather abruptly, he let Harry go and ran off to the showers, hoping that his two dads would use the opportunity to talk through this mess and reach a – hopefully – happy conclusion. Honestly, the way the two of them talked about each other – even after not seeing one another for 13 years – it was clear that each still had deep feelings for the other.

After Caelum was gone, Harry slowly turned to stare at Draco again. “So... Where would you like to have this fight?”

Draco let out a deep sigh of defeat and acceptance. “Let's have it where this all started... Harry. I'll meet you at the Manor in... an hour?”

Harry pressed his lips together as he thought this over. It was giving Draco the literal home field advantage, but even so, they were guaranteed privacy. Who knows, maybe they could come to some sort of understanding before they outright killed each other. He nodded gruffly and ground out: “Can't wait.”

 

***

 

When Harry Apparated to the gate of the Manor an hour later, Draco was waiting for him. The still entirely way too gorgeous for Harry's peace of mind man let Harry in without a word. The two stared at each other in silence for maybe half a second. Then, before the gate even had time to close again, Harry roared in outrage.

“How could you have kept him from me?! _Why_ did you never tell me?! Did you think I wouldn't care?!”

“Actually yes, _Potter_!” Draco ground out angrily. “That's exactly what I thought! And why wouldn't I? You _left_ when I was in the _shower_! You _left_ after implying that you were going to stay! You _didn't_ leave a note, you never came back, and you never once owled to explain why!”

Harry glared at Draco. “I _left_ because an elf delivered a copy of the Daily Prophet announcing _your engagement_ !!! Of course I left! I'd just had the best night of my life, only to discover that you were simply playing with me! Just like a Slytherin to make a bloke think he had a chance, all the while being secretly _engaged_!”

“I _wasn't_ engaged!” Draco roared emphatically, then winced. “Well, apparently I was, but I had no idea about that! It wasn't my idea and it happened without any input from me! I actually didn't find out until a day or so later when my father asked if I was moping about because of the announcement. He then went on to assure me that I'd come around soon enough and rather enjoy being married. The only reason I was fortunate enough to not have to go through with it is that you had gotten me up the duff – so thanks for that, by the way!” Draco shouted angrily, which was incongruous to what he'd said. “And anyway, _how_ was I supposed to tell you when you had already left the damn country?!” The event had been reported on in the paper, so it was common knowledge.

“I had to leave the country!” Harry insisted, throwing his arms out to emphasize his point. “If I stayed, I would have had to watch the person I was more than half in love with get married to someone else! And how in Merlin's raunchy hole did I get you up the duff anyway?! Wouldn't you have had to take a potion?! Bloody fucking hell, Draco! _Why_ did you take a potion like that without telling me?!?!”

Draco actually blushed and looked away. “Er... _Well_ , Muffy, my house elf – the one that had been mine and cared for me ever since I was born – she thought she knew what would make me happy and slipped the potion to me without telling me. So, I didn't do that on purpose. Although, it _did_ make me happy, so...” he trailed off with a shrug.

“Your elf did what?!” Harry asked in astonishment.

Draco glared at him. “Which doesn't really matter since it doesn't excuse the fact that _you_ left _without_ a word! If you _had_ confronted me – or even owled a demand for me to explain myself – _none of this would have happened!_ ” Draco stomped his foot a bit petulantly. “So forgive me for considering the fact that I was pregnant as a result of the best night of my life – with the person I'm pretty sure I've been in love with forever – as _the only_ good thing that has ever happened to me! _Of course_ I –”

“Wait!” Harry interrupted him in astonishment. “You were in love with me?”

Draco growled in frustration. “Wasn't it fucking obvious?! I did everything I could from the moment we first met to get your attention and make you notice and think about me!”

“No it wasn't obvious!” Harry roared in frustration. “I honestly thought you _hated_ me! It wasn't until right after the Final Battle when I had five minutes to sit down and think in peace that I realized that I'd fallen in love with you sometime during Sixth Year and that's why I obsessed over you so much!”

“Wait, what?” Draco blurted out in shock. “Are you serious? How could you have fallen in love with the utter shite that I was back then?”

Harry gave Draco a look of tender sympathy. “I always saw who you were underneath the varnish your parents tried to paint you with – or at least it was obvious to me when I thought back on it. But that year? When I saw what you were willing to do to protect your family? You took the Dark Mark to save their lives, Draco! I’ve never known anyone braver. (Except for possibly Snape.) You really loved me?” Harry asked again because he just couldn't wrap his head around this mind boggling news.

Draco looked down in a futile attempt to hide his face from Harry. “The first three years, I was such a bully to you – well, that never really changed, I guess. I thought about you nearly every second of every day, not really knowing why until our Fourth Year when I saw you fly against one of the most dangerous dragons in the world. _Dragon_ , Harry! It was like a sign! My heart was in my throat and beating so fast that I couldn't breathe! I knew then... but it's not like I could say anything. By that point, we were very firmly enemies, so... I did everything I could to hide my love for you from everyone.” He stopped, and then added in a low grumble that Harry didn't really hear: “Pretty sure Pansy and Blaise figured it out though...”

Harry snorted in amusement. “Well, good job on that. Fantastic job, really. I never knew if I wanted wanted to punch you or kiss you!”

Draco smirked. “Yes, that fairly accurately describes how I felt about you too.”

Harry suddenly felt on thoroughly familiar footing. “Take now, for example; it's taking everything I have to _not_ tackle you to the ground and snog the hell out of you!”

Draco grinned, inordinately pleased to hear this. “Well, Potter, I might be persuaded to let you.”

Not needing any further encouragement, Harry pulled Draco into his arms and kissed him so confidently that Draco nearly swooned. Clinging to Harry, Draco Apparated them to his bedroom. Then he pulled free with a grin.

“You've gotten better at that, and you were fairly good to begin with.”

Harry looked away with a mildly guilty expression. “Well, er... I've had a lot of practice.”

“Oh really?” Draco asked, intrigued and a little dismayed by the prospect.

Harry sighed a bit reluctantly. “I suppose I should probably tell you now – in the interest of responsibility and safety. So, er... well... I left the country and spent an entire decade pulling lovers from around the world. I always used protection and spells, so I'm clean – which you can check if you'd like. But yeah... I've had _a_ _lot_ of practice. So, if there's anything in particular you'd like to do...”

“Such as...?” Draco drawled curiously. Sadly, in that same decade or so, he'd been a single father, and so his sexual experience was sparse. Mostly Blaise or Pansy – sometimes together – and the rare one off pulled from a gay muggle dance club.

Harry shrugged, and then gave him a charmingly devilish grin. “Oh... I could tie you to the bed and tease you until you explode – practically untouched.”

Draco's brain went offline for a moment as he was overcome by vivid mental images, until he realized that he was making a strange droning noise. He cleared his throat. Then cleared it again.

“Er, yeah... I think that could be... interesting,” he murmured in agreement.

Harry smirked. “Alright. Let's see...” he trailed off as he visualized all his favorite types of rope. For a simple spread eagle hold, a quartet of short thin ropes was best, but Harry wanted to do something different. With that in mind, he conjured one long coil of thin red rope – which would look gorgeous against Draco's pale skin – to begin with. “Would you like me to undress you, or would you prefer to undress yourself?”

Draco smirked and used his wand to make all their clothes intangible just long enough to be banished to the floor. “There!” He huffed in triumph.

Grinning, Harry uncoiled the rope – walking a circle around Draco as he did so. He mentally mapped out a harness covering Draco's torso, which would serve no real purpose except to anchor the binding Harry wanted to use on Draco's legs. When ready, he began the process of constructing the harness. Taking the rope in hand and folding it in half, Harry started by forming a loop and a simple overhand knot and placing the loop against Draco's back, between the upper part of his shoulder blades. Then he draped the two halves of the rope over Draco's head, pulled them back together, and formed another overhand knot.

As he worked, Draco stared at the colorful snake slithering up and down and all around Harry's leg. It was simply gorgeous! The main coloring was dark blue alternating with light blue in a sort of spotted pattern. This was accented with curvy stripes of dark and darker orange. The entire top of the snake's head was a slightly brighter orange with the underside a pretty shade of yellow edged in soft green. Lastly, the snake's tongue was a vivid red. He seriously had to wonder if the tattooed snake was a real species, or if it was simply an artistically embellished version of a normally plain species. Harry caught him looking and gave him a swift kiss before continuing his work.

Astonishingly quickly – in Draco's opinion – Harry had him wrapped up in the harness. The rope was tight enough to be felt without truly digging into his skin or hindering his breathing. The center of the harness had a diamond pattern with lines crisscrossing to his back – which had more diamonds that he couldn't actually see.

Next, Harry asked him to lie on his back on the bed. This was when Harry conjured and used a pair of short, thin ropes to bind Draco's wrists securely so that they wouldn't lose feeling even as he couldn't pull free of the ropes – which were attached to the sides of his headboard. Lastly, Harry used yet more rope to tie Draco's legs to themselves before attaching them to the harness so that he couldn't close them, or straighten them, or move them much at all.

“I'm not entirely sure whether I should be impressed or jealous,” Draco said as he surveyed his predicament. “Where'd you learn to be so kinky?”

“A sex club in France that I practically lived in for three years,” Harry replied honestly.

“Such places exist?” Draco asked in surprise. If he'd known that, he might have had a little more stress relief over the years. Even more surprising was the fact that not even _Blaise_ knew about them – so far as Draco knew, and he was fairly sure that Blaise would have brought him to one of the clubs had he known about them.

Harry chuckled. “The best ones are fairly exclusive. You have to know someone who can vouch for you. Thus, not everyone knows about them. I went to my first sex club in New York City when a man I pulled from gay bar asked if he could dominate me and I had to have him explain what all of that meant. I spent two or three months in that club, discovering that I really like being dominated. That club gave me a recommendation to another club and vouched for me, and so, I traveled around the states learning more than I thought possible about myself.”

“You like being bossed around?” Draco questioned, not quite able to believe it.

Harry grinned. “Yes, but I also like dominating my partner – like I'm doing to you right now. While we're on the subject of domination, please pick a safe word so that I know to stop if you get overwhelmed.”

“Can't I just say stop?” Draco wondered.

“Well yes, but a lot of people like to struggle and cry and beg for their Dom to stop when really, they want him to keep going. Thus a safe word – usually something that wouldn't come up in normal conversation, well normal sex play conversation – is a good way to distinguish between an _actual_ request to stop and a pretend one.”

Draco gulped as he realized that he might just be in over his head. “Er... Hippogriff?”

Harry smiled. “Perfect. Now, I'll do whatever I want to you without stopping, no matter what you say, unless you say your safe word, so don't forget it. Also, even though you are not bound very tightly, your body may think it needs to panic. So, if you start having any trouble breathing at all, let me know. That's a definite reason to stop – safe word or not.”

Draco barely had time to nod in understanding before Harry started. At first, he thought that Harry planned to do painful things – such as pinch his nipples – but he was soon proved wrong. Harry started by kissing Draco, his hands carding through the silky blond hair as gently as if it was a precious treasure.

Just when Draco thought he was starting to feel just a tiny bit drunk from the kisses, Harry moved on. His hands stroked Draco's body all over – creating hundreds of trails that nearly tickled, but not quite. Just enough to make Draco squirm, but not truly annoy him. Then, Harry alternated between the feathery touches and licking and sucking on Draco's neck.

Draco wasn't used to so much foreplay and nearly begged Harry to just shag him already. His breathing was ragged. So much so that he had to wonder if this was what Harry was referring to, but Draco didn't want to stop just yet, so he didn't say anything.

Moving on, Harry decided to tickle Draco's nipples with his tongue – his hands still lightly caressing every part of that creamy body. After at least a half an hour of this, Draco reached the begging stage – or at least his version of it.

“Kindly get on with it already, Potter!”

Harry smirked at him. “Don't worry, I will when I'm good and ready.”

Despite implying that he had no plans to move on, Harry shifted so that he was no longer half laying on Draco. Instead, he was now sitting between Draco's tied open legs. Conjuring a bit of oil that tasted like cinnamon and oranges and had a pleasant tingle, Harry focused on massaging Draco's long and thin shaft. It wasn't a firm massage intended to get him off quickly, but rather a light and sensual massage – much like what Harry had been doing to Draco's chest earlier.

Each time Harry felt Draco's legs quiver ever so slightly, Harry would exhale hot air on the rigid and dark pink shaft. Sometimes, he purposely blew a cool and gentle breeze across it. Before long, Draco was whimpering in need. Never once in his life had he been so desperate to have sex! At the moment, it was literally the only thing he could think about.

When Draco produced a string of pre-ejaculate, Harry teasingly licked it up without touching any other part of the beautiful shaft with his tongue. This made Draco groan in longing and try to thrust his hips so that his shaft would go into Harry's mouth. Harry chuckled and pulled back.

“Please! Potter – Harry, _please_...”

“Not _just_ yet,” Harry denied, making Draco suddenly realize that the man was made of pure evil. No wonder he'd defeated the Dark Lord! He may seem innocent, but –

Draco gasped when Harry shifted again so that he could lick a broad stripe across Draco's soft pucker. Harry surreptitiously cast a few spells to clean Draco out, sanitize the area, and conjure just a little bit more of that oil. Then he wasted no time in massaging those tight and wrinkled muscles with his tongue. Even as he did so, he idly stroked Draco's shaft with his left hand.

The light but constant stimulation was slowly driving Draco mad!

Harry took no pity on him. Instead, he used his right hand to help massage and open Draco, preparing him for entry. This part, Draco was used to, although, not to the degree Harry was doing it. Normally, it was sort of rushed, performed only as much as necessary to get ready for the shagging.

When Harry located Draco's prostate, the helpless captive yelped. Were he not so well tied up, he probably would have jumped a good ten feet in the air! As it was, he uncontrollably spouted pleading babble.

“Please, oh god please?! Salazar and fucking Merlin! Please fuck me already! Please?! I can't take much more of this! I'll give you all the gold in my biggest vault! Or anything else you could possibly want! What do you want? You want another child? I'll give you another child!”

This made Harry pause for a moment and look at Draco. “That is something I think we should discuss when we're _not_ in the middle of bondage and domination. As for now...” he trailed off as he firmly rubbed Draco's prostate.

Draco let out a low squeal and struggled against his bonds as he erupted like a volcano. Harry grinned and kept up a gentle rubbing even as he licked Draco clean. Draco gasped and thrashed, desperately wishing he had something to drink. When it all became too much, he cried out: “Hippogriff!”

True to his word, Harry stopped touching him completely and sat back. Seeing Draco panting and sounding dry as a bone, Harry smiled and cast a modified Aguamenti that would produce drops of water in Draco's mouth for a few minutes. Not much, just enough to keep his mouth wet without being a chocking hazard. Sort of similar to sucking on ice, but again, without risk of choking.

When Draco felt a bit calmer, he opened his eyes to look at Harry. “Alright. You've managed to astonish me – _and_ give me an orgasm better than anything I remember having in my entire life. _Now_ will you shag me?”

Harry grinned. “I don't know... Maybe I need to do this two or three more times first.”

Draco let out a nearly strangled sounding gasp of dismay. “If you do that, I _swear_ I will hex you so hard you'll need to recover for a week in St. Mungo's!”

Harry chuckled. “So... what you're saying is that you _insist_ I shag you right now?”

“ _Yes!!!_ ” Draco roared emphatically.

“Alright then,” Harry murmured as he got into position. “But first...” He cast a spell that unbound Draco's legs. With him flat on his back like this, it was actually more comfortable for both of them if Draco's legs weren't tied up.

Draco stretched them out with a sigh of relief, and then wrapped them around Harry's waist. Happily, Harry wasted no more time sliding his shaft into Draco's well prepared hole. It was so well prepared, in fact, that Draco felt almost no burn – despite Harry's size! There was some, but it was... gentle, if that made sense.

“Do you still like it rough?” Harry asked, nearly whispering in his ear.

Draco moaned and tilted his head to the side in a silent invitation for Harry to suck on his neck again. “Yes. Rough and hard and fast.”

“I can do that,” Harry stated, nipping Draco's neck. “Well, two out of three,” he amended with a smirk.

To Draco's amazement, Harry pounded him into the bed for hours! So long that Draco started begging Harry for deliverance again. He was beginning to wonder if Harry had never ending stamina, and more importantly, just exactly how much practice did a bloke have to have to cultivate this kind of stamina???

Just when Draco was growing exhausted, and surprisingly close to another glorious orgasm, Harry grabbed Draco's hips, sped up, and ground into him mercilessly. Draco absolutely loved it! Especially when Harry flooded him with a wet heat that soothed him and triggered his orgasm.

They cried out together before collapsing into a pile of boneless meat. Or perhaps jelly. Neither had the energy to move. Ever again, if possible.

With a yawn, Harry waved his hand in tiny circles, which wandlessly and non-verbally vanished all the conjured ropes so that he couldn't forget to untie them before passing out. Which was a good thing, because Draco was more than half asleep already. He had just enough presence of mind to wrap his sore arms around Harry and hold him close.

In the morning, Draco woke to the very urgent call of the bathroom. He had slept like the dead – a somewhat rare occurrence – and now needed to get out of bed before he made a mess. The problem was that Harry was pinning him to the bed. Draco shoved at Harry a couple of times before the man woke up.

“'Sss wrong?” Harry asked groggily.

“I need you to get off me,” Draco insisted.

Harry reluctantly complied, figuring that it must be important. Draco grabbed his hair and forced him to meet a fierce glare.

“ _Don't_ go anywhere!” Draco commanded before giving Harry a pressing kiss. “Or I'll murder you!”

Before Harry could come up with a good come back to that – since his brain was more or less still asleep – Draco slipped out of bed and rushed to the en suite bathroom. Harry yawned and tried to go back to sleep.

Unfortunately, his own bladder started screaming for relief. This made Harry wonder what time it was. Sunlight streaming through the window made him suspect that he might be late for work. A lazily cast Tempus Charm confirmed his suspicion.

“Damnit,” he muttered under his breath as he fumbled around for his wand. The Patronus Charm was one of many that Harry couldn't do wandlessly unless he was extremely focused and motivated – which he currently was not.

When Harry couldn't find his wand, he considered conjuring up a robe and quickly Apparating to his shop to let Emma know what was going on, but then he remembered that Draco would kill him. A moment later, he smacked himself on the forehead and muttered: “Stupid idiot! Accio wand!”

Draco entered the room just as Harry cast his Patronus. This made Draco curious – since he didn't think there were any dementors around. At first, the magnificent silvery stag ran around the room, then he stopped in front of Harry as if asking what the problem was.

Harry yawned again. “Tell Emma: Sorry I'm running late. I probably won't be in for a while. Hopefully nothing important will come up, but if anyone needs me, please tell them to come back this afternoon.”

The stag ran off – disappearing just before he would have collided with a wall. Harry was half glad and half strangely guilty that Emma couldn't cast a Patronus in order to reply to the message. It meant that she couldn't pester him for details. It also meant that she couldn't let him know if there were any emergencies.

He simply had to trust that there weren't any.

He slipped out of bed and caught Draco in his arms. “My turn. Be right back. Don't _you_ go anywhere.”

Draco rolled his eyes. “This is my house, Potter. Where would I go?”

With a shrug, Harry took a step toward the bathroom. Then he stopped, grabbed Draco again, and gave him a demanding kiss. Draco gave in for a moment before pulling back.

“Ugh! Cast a breath freshening charm while you're in there!”

This made Harry laugh. In the en suite, Harry thought about how much time had been wasted due to his tragic misunderstanding. Draco was right, he _should_ have sent an owl demanding an explanation at the very least. He could have been part of Draco and Caelum's lives this entire time.

Depressed, Harry just barely remembered to cast the requested charm before trudging back to the bed – where Draco was snuggling with a pillow in the warm spot. Joining him, Harry silently pulled Draco into his arms and simply lay there, thinking. Slowly, he realized something important...

He hadn't _wasted_ all those years. He'd found himself! True, he very much would have chose to have a family over copious amounts of sex with mostly strangers in various sex clubs, but... That time had allowed Harry to learn just about everything there was to know about himself. It had given him a path – a _calling_ – that he might not have found otherwise.

Hell! He probably would have become an _Auror_ if he'd stayed here with Draco and Caelum. He just couldn't see himself as truly happy with that career path.

And he was. Truly happy, that is. With or without Draco and Caelum, Harry had a fulfilling life. Of course, having them in it would just make everything all the better.

“Something wrong?” Draco asked nervously. “I can practically _hear_ you thinking.”

Harry shook his head. “No, nothing's wrong so much as I've just had an epiphany. I know it's entirely too soon, but will you marry me? In the future I mean. Next year maybe? If that's too soon, the year after. It's just that you mentioned that you'd give me another child if I wanted, and even though you were just babbling because of the bondage, I actually want that. A lot! I was already planning on having someone get me up the duff, so maybe we might have to argue over which one of us carries the baby but –”

He was cut off rather abruptly when Draco put a hand over his mouth. “Stop babbling like a moron and let me respond to some of that!”

Harry bit his lips together, suddenly feeling like Draco was about to kick him out of the Manor – and possibly out of his life!

Sensing this, Draco kissed him. It was a tender kiss that turned into a long series of happy kisses that grew rather heated before Draco needed to pull back and take a moment to catch his breath. Harry stole one last tiny kiss anyway.

“So... In reverse order; yes, I'd like another child. Or two. And you can carry them if you want because once was more than enough for me. That said, I'll carry another if you can't or decide not to. Waiting a year or two seems excessive considering how long we've waited already. So, yes...” he faltered, and then swallowed to wet his suddenly dry throat. “I'll marry you.”

Harry felt like he could just sing from happiness. He didn't because his voice sucked – or so he assumed – and _no one_ wanted to hear that. Instead, he smothered Draco with a hug so tight that Draco actually wheezed from lack of air.

“Get off me, you unrefined Gryffindor!”

Harry laughed, loosened his grip just a little, and then stole a thoroughly possessive kiss. Draco had to fight off his enthusiastic attention, which was far more fun than he cared to admit. Eventually, he managed to roll away.

“Stop, you uncultured swine! I'm _starving_ and I want to take a shower before you get it in your head to tie me up again!”

Harry grinned. “Oh... so that's how you want to spend the day, huh?” He gave Draco a tender kiss. “Fine by me, but you know what? _This time,_ we _have_ to take that shower together.”

“Agreed!” Draco exclaimed rather fervently.

Hand in hand, they slipped out of bed and walked to the bathroom to do just that. Almost right away, Draco discovered the tattoo on Harry's back. He moaned as he was hit by a sudden rush of lust.

“A _dragon_...”

Harry smiled and braced himself against the wall so that Draco could look for as long as he liked. “I got her because she reminded me of you.”

“Mmm...” Draco practically purred, kissing the dragon before stroking it reverently. Hours passed before they finally managed to get clean.

 

***

 

Caelum nervously waited for the Hogwarts Express to come to a full stop. It was now the Christmas holidays and both of his dads had written him in a way that filled him with mild dread. They'd told him that they'd come to an agreement, but refused to tell him anything more.

Thus, Caelum was certain that they were about to tell him that they'd worked out some sort of shared custody. It was far better than Harry running off again or simply deciding to remain friends, but still... Caelum had driven himself mad with hope that they'd...

Fall in love again, and...

Get married.

And maybe even give him a brother or sister!

But that was probably asking for too much...

The train _finally_ came to a halt and the doors opened. Caelum stepped off the train and looked around. There was a thick crowd of people that suddenly parted so that they could find their kids getting off the train.

In the middle of that crowd was Harry.

Holding hands with Caelum's dad!

Caelum whooped from joy and rushed to fling his arms around both of them. They returned his hug, happy that this preteen was not yet at that age where he was mortified by parental affection in public. In truth, Caelum probably would be if this wasn't only the second time that he'd gotten to hug Harry. As it was, he couldn't bring himself to care that people (likely reporters) were taking pictures of them.

Pulling back with a smile, Harry ruffled Caelum's soft white beanie. “I'm so happy to see you again! So, er... your dad and I are going to need your help with something important.”

“What's that?” Caelum asked curiously.

Draco smirked mischievously. “I'm going to need you to guard these rings with your life, and then give them to us when the time is right,” he said as he handed an ornate little jewelry box to his son.

Caelum was curious enough to open the box and take a peek inside. Sure enough, there was a pair of matching gold bands carved with tiny winding snakes with miniscule diamonds for eyes. Despite being unique, their intent was clear.

“ _You're getting married_?!?!” Caelum inquired in the loudest and most joyous shout he was capable of. He threw his arms around them again, taking care not to drop the box, which was now shut again and clenched in his right fist.

“Come on,” Harry murmured, well aware that every single person was staring at them in astonishment. “Let's go home.”

Bouncing in excitement, Caelum agreed.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked the pictures :-D


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Caelum meets the Weasleys and - a year later - finally finds out what it's like to be a big brother :-)

The day after Harry found out that Caelum was his son, Harry eventually got out of bed, got dressed, kissed Draco goodbye, and went to the Burrow for dinner. He was unusually quiet for the most part, which worried everyone greatly.

Finally, just as dessert was being served, Hermione reached across the table and took his hand. “Alright, out with it! Did you get pregnant _already_?”

Harry smirked because from September to November was _just_ enough time to do so and find out if it had taken, and Harry was usually an impulsive bloke that normally would have taken that potion and went out to pull a lover the _moment_ he learned that it was possible. “Actually no.”

“Then what?” Hermione persisted.

Harry rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “So... I just found out some very big news.”

“What news, dear?” Molly asked with a kind and supportive tone that only a mother of boisterous sons could truly have.

Harry absently scratched an itch on his head as he tried to figure out how to say this. “Well, so, er, remember how I abruptly left the country one day?”

“Yeah,” Ron stated with a shrug. “You said that you'd found out that the person you fancied was engaged and you wanted to go out and look for someone better.”

Harry nodded. “Which I did try, and along the way, I found myself. Now that I'm back, I found out that the person I fancied didn't get married after all. He managed to get out of his engagement because one of his house elves had slipped him a potion without his knowledge and he got up the duff during a one off.”

While everyone else, even Hermione, looked mildly amused but more or less clueless, Ron was gaping at Harry with a queasy expression. Like he was slightly horrified. Harry raised a curious brow at him.

“ _No..._ ” Ron exhaled in a tone of disbelief one could only have when they were dead certain they were probably right. “The bloke you fancied was _Malfoy_?!”

Harry chuckled dryly. “Actually yes. How'd you guess?”

Ron waved a forkful of cherry crumble cake at Harry, as if using it to illustrate his point. “I remember reading in the Daily Prophet the day you told us you were leaving the country that he was engaged, but then he never did get married. I thought nothing of it at the time. Also, it was quite the scandalous bit of gossip when it turned out that he was heavily pregnant during his Christmas shopping that year. So now, when you mention it, it just seemed to be obvious...”

Harry smiled at his best friend as Ron finally ate the bite on his fork. “Yes. Well. So. That boy – Caelum – He's... Mine...”

“ _What_?!” Half the Weasley family – the adult half – blurted out in astonishment.

Harry nodded in confirmation. “The night before I left, well the _day_ before, I went to give Draco back his wand, and we ended up in his bed. So, I'm the one that got him up the duff. Neither of us knew that his house elf thought him getting pregnant would make him happy, or I'm pretty sure that we would have used a contraceptive potion or spell. Now that I've met Caelum though, I'm really glad we didn't.”

Hermione squeezed his hand. “Oh Harry... Are you okay?”

Harry shrugged and nodded his head. “Actually... Yeah. I know I haven't had a lot of time to think about it, but I realized that now that my life is going well – I have a job I love and a shop full of lizards and snakes that need me... Well, I'm happy. And finding out I have a kid! You know how much I always wanted kids.”

“That's good then,” Hermione murmured supportively.

“Well!” Molly exclaimed with a grin. “When can we meet dear Caelum?”

Harry smiled at her, feeling an urge to hug her tight. She was like his mother – or at least, the way he assumed his mother would have been – always supportive and happy for him. At this point in her life, Harry really thought that she could handle just about anything with aplomb.

“During Christmas Hols, I suppose,” he answered with a shrug. “But there's more...”

“Oh?” Molly asked curiously.

“I, er... I asked Draco to marry me, and he said yes, so –”

He was cut off by a loud and incredulous roar. “ _WHAT?!?!_ ”

“But you _can't_!”

“When was this?!”

“ _He's Malfoy!!!_ ” Ron wailed in definite horror this time.

“Rushing into marriage is never a good idea!”

Harry held up his hands to end the jumble of protests. “Oi! Listen! _Oi_!” When everyone finally took a breath and calmed down, Harry chuckled and shook his head. “I know you're all just worried about me, but it'll be fine. I've never once stopped thinking about him and now that I know we have a child together, I want more. He wants more too, and he says that he never got married because he was hoping I'd come back someday, so, _why_ waste any more time?”

“Oh Harry...” Hermione murmured with a long sigh. “Alright, if you're certain this is what you want, then I'll stand by you.”

Ron groaned and unconsciously copied something Harry did all the time, pulling on his hair. “Ugh... _Malfoy_...” Then he sighed too. “Alright. If you _must_ , then I'll stand by you too.”

Molly also let out a heavy sigh. “So... when's this wedding?”

Feeling far more relieved than he thought he'd be, Harry smiled. “We're thinking either Christmas day, or New Year's.”

“So soon?!” Ron yelped in dismay.

Harry shrugged. “Like I said, why waste more time?”

Hermione made a soft humming that told them all that she was thinking. “Hmm... Well, the New Year is a time for new beginnings. I suppose that's rather appropriate.”

Harry nodded in agreement.

Arthur cleared his throat. He was mild mannered in just about every way, facing down everything with even more aplomb than his wife. He tended not to speak much about anything that wasn't muggle or job related, so when he did, everyone tended to listen.

“Bring Mr. Malfoy and Caelum to Christmas dinner. We'll all be on our best behavior and make him feel welcome,” Arthur said with a look around the table that warned his sons that he meant business.

“Oh, er... I'm not sure Draco will agree to that...” Harry murmured nervously.

“If he's serious about marrying you, then he will have to accept that we're your family, Harry,” Arthur informed him gently. “If he doesn't, then you know that you're going to have at least one big problem going into your marriage.”

Harry bit his lip as he thought this over. “Alright. I'll talk to him.”

“Good,” Arthur stated with an encouraging smile.

 

***

 

Caelum sat on his dads' bed watching as his two fathers bickered.

“You are _not_ wearing that!” Harry exclaimed insistently.

“Why the fuck not?!” Draco demanded with a heated glare.

“Those are practically formal robes!” Harry pointed out in frustration.

“Exactly! If I am to attend this... _family function,_ I need to feel at my best! That means that I need to look perfect!” Draco half shouted.

“Yeah, but not in _formal robes_!” Harry roared. “I can guarantee that someone is going to spill _something_ on you in the first half an hour and that'll just make you grumpy!”

“ _Who_ is planning to spill _what_ on me?” Draco asked frostily.

Harry tore at his hair in frustration. “No one's _planning_ anything! It's just that there are practically a hundred kids running under foot and they're messy! Things get spilled! This is _not_ formal tea at Claridge's! You need to wear something comfortable!”

Draco took a deep breath as he thought this over, and then sighed. “Fine. If you can find something in my closet that you feel would be appropriate, I'll wear it.”

“Merlin's hairy arse, Draco! I'm not sure I have three days to get lost in your closet,” Harry blurted out in dismay.

Draco snorted a laugh. “My closet's not _that_ big.”

“Yes it is! And I'd swear you have a venomous tentacula guarding part of it because something grabbed me when I went in there to look for a clear pair of pants the other day.”

Draco looked to the ceiling and stroked his chin in thought. “I don't have a tentacula... Maybe a house elf was trying to point you in the right direction?”

“House elf!” Harry blurted out excitedly. “Muffy!”

“Yes Master Harry?” Draco's personal house elf asked a moment later.

“Does Draco have a nice pair of trousers and a jumper?” Harry wondered.

“Master Draco has several,” Muffy replied, clearly not able to read Harry's mind. He sighed in frustration.

“Alright, let me be more specific...”

For the next ten minutes, Draco sipped tea and watched in amusement as Harry and Muffy searched his closet. Caelum was flat out roaring with laughter on the bed. Finally, Harry emerged, looking like he had just survived a scuffle or a windstorm. He was now wearing a pair of shorts and a button up shirt in a shade called Khaki with a matching pith helmet.

“How long was I missing?” Harry asked dramatically. “I feel like it's been years...”

“It's been ten minutes!” Draco informed him with a laugh.

Harry held up a pair of trousers in one hand and a jumper in the other. “My quest was successful! I found something appropriate for you to wear!”

Draco eyed the black woolen trousers and green cashmere jumper warily. Even having come from his closet, he wasn't sure he could trust Harry's taste. However, he was willing to give it a try. He stripped off his bathrobe and then looked down with a smirk.

“Are there pants to go with that?”

Caelum rolled his eyes. He hadn't realized how corny his dad could be. Neither father noticed this.

Harry waved his hands a bit frantically. “Oh no! I'm not going up against your tentacula again so soon!”

“So much for Gryffindor bravery,” Draco snorted in amusement. “Muffy! One pair of black silk pants please!”

“Yes Master,” she called out obediently from his closet.

As Draco pulled his pants on, he gave Harry a curious look. “Where'd you get that outfit?”

“I transfigured my bathrobe and pants,” Harry replied with a shrug. “I got the idea when I found this hat in your closet.”

“That's from the time dad brought me to the rainforest,” Caelum informed him even as Draco said: “It's called a pith helmet. I was told that it was the hat of choice for all explorers.”

“I bet you look adorable in it,” Harry murmured, putting the hat on Draco's head as he stole a kiss.

“Adorable?” Draco questioned with a moue of displeasure.

“Absolutely!” Harry proclaimed with a grin. He then kissed Draco again.

“Ugh!” Caelum groaned. “Not while I'm in the room!”

Harry rolled his eyes. “Consider yourself lucky that I don't want to be late, otherwise I'd kick you off the bed and throw your dad on it.”

Caelum blushed and pulled his knees to his chest so that he could hug them and stare at his feet. “Er... Are – are you...?”

This made Draco curious enough to forget his minor embarrassment at such a blunt reference to his sex life. It's not that he had never talked about sex with Caelum – he had. He'd answered all of Caelum's questions honestly and even explained the differences between gay and straight sex. That said, in the past, Draco's sex life, well... it just usually wasn't a frequent occurrence. Nor did it have the potential to happen at any moment like it did now.

Especially with Harry's libido!

Anyway, Draco tilted his head to the side and looked at his son. “What?”

“Are you planning to have any more kids?” Caelum muttered, now doodling on the bed with one finger.

“Why? Does that upset you?” Draco wondered with a frown of concern.

“No!” Caelum practically shouted as he sat up straight and crossed his legs in front of him. “I want brothers and sisters!”

Harry walked over and sat on the bed next to Caelum. “Good, because we want more kids too,” he said, ruffling Caelum's hair.

Caelum was torn between a desire to hug Harry and the urge to slap Harry's hand away from his hair. He twitched his head away unconsciously, prompting Harry to drop his hand. Caelum's eyes were drawn to the colorful snake slithering around Harry's leg.

“So... when can I get a tattoo of a snake on my leg?”

“Ha!” Draco snorted. “Not until you're older!”

“I'll take you to my tattoo wizard on your birthday when you come of age, if you'd like,” Harry offered with a smile.

“Yes!” Caelum hissed happily.

“Oh great,” Draco muttered unhappily. “Now that'll be all he can talk about for the next few years!”

Harry chuckled, and since Draco was now dressed – and looking rather good – he got out of bed and scooped the scowling blond into his arms. “Speaking of tattoos, I was wondering what you'd think if I got another.”

Draco gave Harry an intrigued grin. “What? Like the words Draco's Bitch across your arse?”

Caelum gasped incredulously that his dad would say something like that. He _really_ wasn't used to his dad being so in love and actually acting like it. It was going to take some time to stop being so embarrassed and scandalized.

Harry chuckled. “I think I could be persuaded.”

“Mmm...” Draco moaned before kissing Harry. He pulled back when he really wanted to throw Harry on the bed because he managed to remember that it was already occupied. “So, er, what are you going to wear?”

Harry smiled. “Denim trousers and my favorite Weasley jumper.” To prove his point, he ended the transfiguration on his bathrobe and slipped it off. Next, he summoned his clothes – that were waiting for him in the bathroom because he had assumed that he'd get dressed after his shower. He hadn't counted on Draco trying to get out of going to the dinner by thoroughly distracting Harry for an hour or so.

“How long did it take to get that Dragon?” Caelum asked curiously. This wasn't the first time he had seen Harry's tattoos, but it was the first time he'd thought to ask. Probably the fact that Harry had promised to take him some day had awakened his curiosity.

Harry shrugged. “I'm not really sure. I went into a sort of trance, so, it could have been hours or it could have been days.”

“Why so long?” Caelum wondered with a frown.

“Oh sure, there are a few wizards that specialize in casting simple spells on a body to instantly create a picture that moves around – such as a flying snitch – but those are actually temporary. No spell lasts forever, though some can last a very long time. Anyway, since I wanted these to be permanent, they needed to be done using a combination of muggle and magical techniques. The muggle part of it is literally drawing the picture with a special needle tool while the wizard layers spells in it to make it move and seem almost alive. I do believe that each tattoo ends up with its own unique personality.”

For example, Harry's dragon was usually fairly relaxed, napping whenever Harry was dressed, and watching her surroundings like a predator when Harry was not wearing a shirt. She had no problems sitting still so that muggles didn't notice anything weird about her.

The _snake_ – on the other hand – was a flamboyant bloke. He was constantly in motion, seeking attention and trying to watch everything he could. He was highly curious and had flustered Harry the first few times he tried to wank after getting the tattoo. It was unnerving to be watched from one's own thigh! Thank _Merlin_ Harry had gotten used to that! But as for when Harry was naked in front of muggles, he had to use a spell to freeze the snake in place. He didn't even want to _think_ about what the snake did when he and Draco were having sex!

“Er...” Caelum droned, now having second thoughts about getting a tattoo after all. Draco surreptitiously sighed in relief.

Caelum looked away with a blush when his two dads admired each other with smoky eyes and smoldering expressions. If he wasn't already fully dressed and waiting as patiently as he could for them to get ready, he'd have left the room and let them get sidetracked again. The thought strangely depressed him.

He sighed rather morosely, hugging his knees to his chest again. “You two aren't going to forget about me when you have a new baby, are you?”

“What?!” Draco and Harry both blurted out in shock. “ _How could you think that_?”

“Just...” Caelum mumbled sadly. “You're _already_ doing it. You barely remember that I'm in the room.”

Draco sighed and sat on the bed next to his son. “Caelum, I assure you that we haven't forgotten you for a single moment. Yes, we're paying a lot of attention to each other, but _you_ are the most important person in my life. That's never going to change.”

Feeling a little better, Caelum hugged his dad.

“Besides,” Draco continued. “It's actually normal and healthy for parents to show their affection for each other in front of their kids. My mum and dad used to _mortify_ me! I can't tell you how many times they kissed in front of me so passionately that I also wondered if they had forgotten I was in the room. I also walked in on them doing things I'd rather not think about so many times that I ended up creating a spell to let me know if it was safe to walk into the room.”

“That sounds horrifying actually,” Harry murmured as he looked toward the ceiling. “ _Thank God_ my aunt and uncle kept their affection for each other to a minimum. Just a kiss goodbye each morning when he left for work and a kiss hello when he got home. If they ever had sex, I somehow managed to block the sound out completely! I think...” Harry trailed off as he uncontrollably thought this over, and then gasped in horror. “Oh God! That totally explains the random squeaking at night! I was _convinced_ we had mice or something!”

He jogged toward the en suite bathroom. “Excuse me a minute, I have to sick up, Obliviate myself, and then wash out my eyes...”

Draco laughed. “Come on Harry! Surely the realization that your aunt and uncle occasionally had sex isn't _that_ traumatizing!”

Harry poked his head out of the bathroom. “You wouldn't say that if you'd ever met them. Just knowing that they had to do it at least once in order to have Dudley is horrible enough to turn anyone's stomach. The fact that they risked having other children should be considered a national tragedy!”

“Er...” Draco droned. He didn't really know what to say since all he really knew about Harry's past and his relatives was the fact that he was raised by muggles and they were rumored to be unpleasant. However, Draco had heard this from his father, and each time, it had been statements along the lines of: “He's raised by _muggles!_ It's only to be expected that he'd turn out as nasty and unrefined as they are.” Thus, Draco wasn't sure how true the rumors actually were.

Harry abruptly stepped out of the bathroom. “How would you feel about inviting my muggle cousin to our wedding?”

“Well, if he's your cousin, then of course he'd be welcome,” Draco replied with a shrug.

“Er, no. No he wouldn't. But I should probably make an effort anyway since he was actually concerned about me the last time I saw him – right before I turned 17 and had to be brought into hiding. They were taken away to a safe hiding place too, and I'm told they returned home once Voldemort was dead, but I never cared to visit them. I wonder if Dudley has kids now? Merlin! That's a scary thought!”

Harry rubbed his scar and took a few deep breaths.

“Er, well, erm, shouldn't we be going if we're ready?” Draco asked, not really knowing how to respond to that. In his opinion, they would be early for a dinner, but Harry had told him that the celebration was actually an entire day event and that they could arrive whenever they wanted. “Unless you've changed your mind. It's still not too late to head off to Maui or the Maldives.”

Harry smiled. “I thought we were saving that for the honeymoon.”

“Besides,” Caelum added softly – almost timidly. “I want to meet these people...”

“You do?!” Draco asked in surprise.

“Yeah, well... Harry said that there's practically a million kids underfoot. That sounds like the family I always wanted, so...” he shrugged, not looking at his dad in case his dad was upset.

Rather than say anything, Draco rubbed Caelum's back and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Alright. I'll do my best to get along with them.”

Harry walked over and held out his hand. “Let's go then.”

 

“Harry!” Molly exclaimed in delight as she promptly attacked him with a hug. “I was beginning to wonder if you forgot!” Harry returned her hug until she abruptly let him go and seized Caelum. “And you must be Caelum! You have Harry's hair, although the rest of you is as handsome as your father. Hello Draco, lovely to see you again.”

Draco was mildly flustered because he couldn't recall when he had ever actually seen her before. At King's Cross Station, he supposed. And the Final Battle. “Er... lovely to see you as well.”

Caelum smiled at Molly. “Yeah, my dad always told me that I had Harry's impossible hair. I usually keep it hidden with beanies because I can't get it to behave _at all_! But Harry convinced me that no one here would care.”

Molly kissed his cheek. “Oh luv! Harry's hair is one of the most interesting parts about him!”

George snorted from where he was waiting to greet Harry. “That's one way of putting it! Hiya Harry, I've been meaning to ask, how did you ever manage to tame your hair long enough to interest all those muggles?”

Harry laughed. “Oddly enough, they all thought I was doing it on purpose! I had so many people ask me what product I was using and how exactly I managed to get it so wild.”

Ron patted Harry on the back as Hermione gave him a tight hug.

“Caelum, these are my best friends,” Harry introduced. “They've been with me since my first day at Hogwarts.”

Hermione held out her hand for Caelum to shake. “Well, actually, I wasn't officially Harry's friend until he rescued me from being murdered by a troll in the girls' bathroom on Halloween our first year.”

“Wait! That actually happened?!” Caelum asked incredulously as he shook her hand. “I thought that was just a story kids told each other to seem like they knew things.”

“Oi,” Ron cried out in protest. “It was actually _me_ that rescued you!” Ron then grinned at Caelum and put an arm around his shoulder as if confiding a secret. “It was the first time I got _Wingardium Leviosa_ right.”

“Yeah,” Harry added in agreement. “The troll had me hanging upside down by my feet and was trying to bash my skull in with a big club when Ron cast that spell and the club ended up bashing the troll instead!”

“I just meant that you both came rushing to my rescue when no one else even cared that I was not where I was suppose to be,” Hermione stated with a shrug.

Harry laughed and winked at Caelum. “If you want to know the truth, it was _Hermione_ who rescued both me and Ron by claiming to be the reason we went off and tried fighting a troll. She lied to McGonagall and told her that it was all her idea – that she'd read about them and thought she knew how to take him on!”

Hermione blushed and turned to Draco. “How are you? Did you read the latest issue of Potions Monthly?”

Draco smiled at her, appreciating that she was making an effort even if it stopped what was proving to be an inexplicably fascinating conversation. He shook her hand. “I'm well. And yes, I did read that.”

“So, what are your thoughts on their attempts to make an Elixir of Life?” Hermione asked.

“Well, I think the theory is faulty,” Draco replied with a shrug. “For something like that –” he was cut short by a loud groan.

“ _Hermione_ ,” Ron half wailed. “You promised that you'd save the smarty pants talk for _after_ I get drunk and pass out!”

Hermione laughed. “This _isn't_ the smarty pants talk! This is just small talk. Later on, I plan to discuss Magical Core Theory, Quantum Physics, and the newly proposed change to Wizarding Law.”

“Such a swot!” Ron accused with a shake of his head before he kissed her.

Harry held up his hands to regain their attention. “Let me finish the introductions!” He then proceeded to name every person in the house down to the baby in Angelina's arms. All of them – that could talk – welcomed Caelum and Draco warmly. Then the older kids – who were all still a year or two younger than Caelum, aside from Teddy who was almost exactly a year older. And Victoire, who was around the same age as him. Anyway, the older kids dragged Caelum off to play.

Teddy surreptitiously leaned into his grandmother so that he could whisper in her ear. “Caelum's in Slytherin. I'm not supposed to get along with him.”

“Oh, my little Gryffindor,” Andromeda said with a fond shake of her head. She had long since become an unofficial member of the Weasley family since Harry was Teddy's godfather and the only time she or Teddy had seen Harry for years was at Weasley family functions. She and Molly got along like a house on fire and the entire family considered Teddy one of their own. “That's not how the world works. You and Caelum are cousins, and family is more important than what House you're sorted into.”

Teddy was more confused than ever. “Wait! What do you mean?”

Andromeda noticed Draco watching them with a purposely smooth expression. She smiled and swept out her hand to indicate Draco. “My younger sister was Draco's mother. That makes him my nephew, which means that his son is your third cousin. You two share blood, Teddy. That means you should at least try getting to know him before you form an opinion on him. Besides, he's Harry's son too, and that means that you could be like brothers, if you wanted.”

Teddy bit his lip as he thought this over. With a sigh, he nodded his head and murmured: “I'll try...” Then he slunk away to watch Caelum play, still as confused as ever.

Draco walked over to Andromeda. “It's been years. How are you?”

Andromeda kissed him on the cheek. “Busy, as I'm sure you can imagine! It's not easy raising a boy on one's own, is it?”

Draco shook his head with a smile as he thought over the years. “No, but I've found it to be enjoyable nonetheless.”

Andromeda tucked her arm through his and pulled him slightly closer. “I'm sorry I lost touch after your mother died. I think I was too sad at first and just wanted to focus on my grandson to keep my spirits up. How have you been?”

“Well enough. Caelum kept me on my toes until he went to Hogwarts. But I'm not complaining. We traveled a lot and had a lot of fun. I think I wanted him to know that even though it was just the two of us, we could still be happy.”

“Ah,” Andromeda murmured in understanding. “You mean _you_ needed to know that.”

Draco looked down and took a deep breath. “Yeah... I supposed I did.”

Andromeda kissed his cheek again. “I'm looking forward to your wedding. Hopefully, the two of us won't be such strangers anymore.”

“Tea,” Draco stated in invitation. “Every Wednesday afternoon at two.”

“That sounds lovely,” Andromeda agreed with a soft smile.

“Alright everyone!” Molly called out from the kitchen. “Time to eat!”

Feeling a little better about this family function, Draco returned to Harry's side and slipped his hand into that warm and gentle one. Harry smiled at him. Then he gave Draco a tiny kiss.

“Alright there?” Harry asked.

“Perhaps shockingly, yes,” Draco answered before giving Harry a tiny kiss in return.

Secretly, all the adults in the room let out a silent sigh of relief. They'd all thought that Harry was rushing into danger like a bold Gryffindor. Now they had hope that there was something real to build a marriage on after all.

 

***

 

On New Year's Day, Harry was carrying all the things he would need in order to get ready for his wedding to one of the spare suites in Malfoy Manor when an elf popped up in front of him. He stopped short to avoid a collision, nearly making Ron run into him.

“Master Harry, one of your guests has already arrived. A man named Jason –”

Harry cut the elf short excitedly. “Bring him here please!”

“Yes Master Harry,” the elf said, bowing for a moment before popping away. A moment later, he was back with the guest.

“Harry!”

Harry thrust his armful into Ron's hands and pulled his friend into a hug. “Jason!”

Ron and Hermione looked Jason over curiously. He was approximately 35, had riotous wavy hair, a neatly trimmed beard, and looked rather handsome.

“Is it _wise_ to invite an ex-lover to your wedding?” Hermione asked with a raised brow.

Harry laughed. “He's not! I mean yes, I did meet him in a sex club, but we never did anything with each other.”

“Well, you did give me a massage once or twice,” Jason reminded him.

“True,” Harry replied with a grin. Then he gestured for everyone to follow him as he continued walking. “Jason is a squib and it was surprisingly nice to have someone to talk to about wizarding things from time to time.”

By this time, they had reached the suite and stepped inside. Harry hugged Jason again. “I'm so glad you came. I was afraid you'd be angry with me for asking such a favor of you.”

“Nah, this is going to be fun. Just don't tell anyone because then _everyone_ will want me to do it too,” Jason stated with a wink.

“Er... is this some perverted thing I really don't want to know about?” Ron asked warily.

Harry laughed. “No! Jason's straight. Sadly. Anyway, he's here because I can't sing to save my life!”

“I don't know about that,” Jason murmured with a shrug. “When you're not thinking about it and just joining in, you sound like you have potential if you cared to learn.”

“Well, even if I did, there's no time for that today, so...” Harry trailed off with a shrug.

As Harry got undressed from the clothes he had just thrown on after his shower that morning, he called for a house elf to tell them exactly how many feet the aisle was. Then Harry got distracted – wearing only his pants – as he and Jason discussed how long it took to walk that far. In the background, Hermione was busy doing her hair and makeup, since she needed far more time to work on it than Harry – who wasn't planning to put much effort into his hair anyway.

The wizard Draco had hired to actually do their hair and makeup arrived just then – interrupting the planning session. “Your fiancé is a very demanding man, so I will need several hours to meet his exacting standards. Thus, I am going to work on you first. I trust that you will hold still and let me do my job?”

“Er... yeah,” Harry agreed nervously.

With several confident waves of his wand, the wizard quickly decided on which colors suited Harry best. After that, he simply cast spells to add a hint of color to Harry's cheeks and eyes. Next, he made a slightly bolder addition to Harry's eyes by outlining them thinly. After that, he cast a spell that repaired any chapping before covering Harry's lips in a shade that was just a tiny bit darker than his natural color, that held a hint of a sheen.

“There! Done!” The wizard announced proudly. “Your hair...” he murmured in dismay. “I can tell without even doing anything that your hair won't obey any of my spells, but perhaps...” He cast a spell to trim Harry's hair and make it look wild on purpose. Then he tried a spell that would make it stay that way for a good 10-12 hours. It wasn't guaranteed, but it might help.

He shrugged helplessly. “That's the best I can do. I'll go attend to Mr. Malfoy now.”

“Damn!” Jason blurted out appreciatively. “I should hire you for all my performances in the future! You just did what my normal artist does but in about a quarter of the time!”

The wizard looked him over as if trying to find faults. He shrugged a bit coldly. “Here's my card. I am not cheap, but if you can afford me, I can work miracles.”

Harry grabbed the wizard as he turned to leave. “You don't need to work miracles on Draco. He's perfect just the way he is.”

The wizard smirked. “I know that and you know that, but trying telling that to Mr. Malfoy. I have no desire to have my bollocks hexed off, so if you'll excuse me...”

“Good luck,” Harry wished him.

The wizard stopped just as he reached the door to the suite. “Oh, and I'll be sure to tell Mr. Malfoy that your pants are amusing and your tattoos breathtaking.”

Harry howled with laughter at that. He was dead certain that the man wouldn't dare risk an even worse hex by actually saying that to Draco. However, it might calm Draco down, so...

Caelum arrived not too long after that. “Dad sent me to spy on you. I'm to report back if you get too, er, inappropriate.”

Harry laughed again. “What does he think I'll do? Tie Ron and Hermione up to get in one last fling? Honestly...” he muttered as he shook his head in amusement. Ron and Hermione both snorted at that. “Alright, spy away, but don't ruin the surprise before the wedding.”

“What surprise?” Caelum asked.

Harry swept a hand out to indicate Jason. “I asked a friend of mine to sing as I walk down the aisle. Caelum, this is Jason –”

Harry was cut off when Caelum went bug eyed and let out a tiny shriek. “Ah! You sing [Make It Mine](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r2CwihdLkc)!”

“You must be a fan,” Jason remarked dryly.

“I _love_ music!” Caelum gushed. “And that song is one of my favorites because you're basically saying that life is something to celebrate and there's no reason to wait to do the things you love.”

Jason looked impressed. “I think I like this kid.”

Caelum blushed but that didn't stop him from wearing a huge grin.

“Can you sing?” Jason wondered.

“Er... a little?” Caelum replied uncertainly.

“Come over here,” Jason beckoned him. “We'll sing Make It Mine while Harry finishes getting ready.”

Harry grinned to see the expression of pure joy on Caelum's face. By the time Harry was ready, Caelum was more than half convinced that he was going to be a singer when he grew up.

 

***

 

Harry snuck a peek out at the yard. Everything was ready to go and all the guests had arrived. They had decided to keep it small and quiet, so there weren't many guests. Just the Weasleys, McGonagall, Hagrid, Luna, Neville, Seamus, Dean and Dudley on Harry's side. Draco's side was even smaller, consisting of Gregory Goyle, Theo Nott, Andromeda, and Teddy.

Draco was standing at the Altar in front of Kingsley Shacklebolt waiting for Harry. He was wearing well-tailored formal robes in a vivid shade of blue. There was embroidery in gold thread that formed shooting stars and a dragon or two. Here and there were clusters of seed bead gems that made up the constellation Draco.

Draco was doing his best to look calm and collected, but Harry could see that he had cast a Tempus Charm on his wrist at some point because he subtly glanced at the inside of his wrist before staring at the place where Harry would emerge. Apparently, waiting even one minute beyond the designated start time was more than Draco could handle. Harry snickered quietly because he liked feeling so wanted.

He signaled to Jason, who had come out five minutes ago to consult with the band that Draco had hired. Jason spotted Harry and gave him a double thumbs up. He then told the band – comprised of semi famous witches and wizards (who had practically offered to pay Draco for the privilege of playing at Harry Potter's wedding) – that it was time to begin.

The band played a flowy tune that Harry could see made Draco relax. He felt a little bad for making Draco nervous, but he had wanted to give Jason time to make absolutely sure that everything would be perfect. The music signaled the start of the ceremony and Harry had more fun than he thought he would watching it from where he was hiding just inside one of the glass doors opening to the garden.

Hermione and Pansy nodded at each other and began their walk down the rather short aisle. Each was wearing a dress in the same style – a basic full length summer dress – but each wore a different color. Perhaps not shockingly, Hermione was wearing Gryffindor red while Pansy was wearing Slytherin green. In their hands were bouquets made up of Lilies and Narcissi.

Next, Ron and Blaise walked down the aisle. They also carried bouquets. Both wore expensive dress robes in black that had embroidered accents in golden thread. Harry private thought that they both looked really good.

When both couples reached Draco and took their place on either side of him, it was Caelum's turn to take a walk. He was wearing something that was a compromise; Draco had wanted him to wear formal robes, but he had wanted to wear a muggle style tuxedo. Instead, he was wearing an outfit that was tailored specifically for him. It was a suit like a tuxedo, but it was the same shade of blue as Draco's dress robes. It also had subtle gold shooting stars, but no dragons or constellations. Also as a compromise, Caelum was wearing a hat, but not one that covered his entire hair.

Just as Caelum reached Draco, he turned to smirk at Harry. Harry could see the confusion on Draco's face when the music suddenly stopped playing. Then Jason stepped forward, held a microphone to his mouth, and sang what was arguably his most famous song. When the time was right, he gestured to Harry.

Harry began his walk during the lyrics:

“So I won't hesitate no more, no more, it cannot wait, I'm sure. There's no need to complicate, our time is short, this is our fate,[ I'm yours](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkHTsc9PU2A).”

By this point, Harry had arrived at Draco's side. Draco held out his hand, which Harry took. Draco's expression was hard to read. He looked like he both liked and disliked the suit Harry was wearing.

It was rather posh for Harry's taste. The trousers and jacket were both white, but the shirt, belt, and shoes were all a shiny black that matched Harry's hair and looked good on him. Speaking of Harry's hair, Draco grinned, happy that Harry had made an effort to look good. Not that Harry didn't usually look good despite the acromantula nest that was his hair.

Harry probably had a goofy grin on his face the entire ceremony. He honestly didn't hear a word Kingsley said until Draco shifted his attention to the Minister for Magic.

“I Draco Lucius Malfoy take you Harry James Potter as my lawfully wedded husband,” he said as he took the correct ring from Caelum and slipped it on Harry's left ring finger. “I know we agreed to write our own vows, but I couldn't think of anything more important than what most couples traditionally say: That I will honor and cherish you for the rest of my life.”

Harry smiled and looked at their joined hands so that he wouldn't succumb to the tears that threatened to break free. “I Harry James Potter take you Draco Lucius Malfoy to be my lawfully wedded husband.” When Harry finished sliding the ring on Draco's finger, he gave it a little kiss. “I know that our history during Hogwarts was volatile. And after, well, I know that the fact that I spent years just buggering around can be daunting. So, I invited my friend Jason to sing his song for you to let you know that I'm sure. _This_ is our fate. This has _always_ been our fate. I'm yours.”

Draco completely gave up trying not to turn into a blubbering mess and threw his arms around Harry. They held each other tight as Kingsley pronounced them Husband and Husband and gave them permission to kiss. After a quick kiss, Draco rested his forehead on Harry's and whispered. “I'm yours too.”

Before Harry could properly burst into tears of joy, Caelum let out a soft squeal of happiness and flung his arms around them. Laughing, they broke apart and hugged him in return.

 

***

 

Caelum was enjoying the feast for Halloween during his Third Year when a majestic Eagle owl belonging to the Malfoy family flew over and dropped a note onto his treacle tart. This was unusual since mail was only supposed to arrive in the morning. With a puzzled frown, he picked up the note and shook the little bit of tart off.

_Caelum, Harry had the baby. It's a girl and we named her Lyra. Can't wait for you to meet her. Love, Dad._

Caelum – like most Slytherins – did _not_ like to make a scene in public unless there was something in it for him. However, he had inherited Harry's Gryffindor impulsiveness and couldn't stop himself from jumping up and squealing in giddiness. This caught everyone's attention, making them all fall silent.

Not realizing this, Caelum, who was now standing next to his House table, shouted: “Harry had the baby! I have a little sister! I'm a big brother!”

McGonagall stood up with a small smile. “Caelum Malfoy, if you would please calm down, I have a note from your father giving me permission to send you via floo to meet your baby sister – if you'd like.”

“What do you mean _if I'd like_?” Caelum asked at the top of his lungs as he ran over to the Headmistress.

Approximately ten minutes later, Caelum emerged from the floo into Malfoy Manor. Muffy brought him right to Draco and Harry's bedroom where Harry was sitting on the bed holding the baby. Draco was sitting next to him, staring at the baby as if she was the most precious thing he had ever seen. A Healer was lazily casting spells to make sure that father and daughter were both healthy and that there were no complications.

Draco looked up and saw Caelum. He broke out in to a grin so brilliant that Caelum couldn't help but grin in return. Draco beckoned Caelum over excitedly.

“Come see her!”

Caelum lightly jogged around the bed before crawling onto it. He sat between his dad's legs and hesitantly looked over at the bundle in Harry's arms.

“She's tiny! And red...”

Draco laughed. “All babies are red when they're first born.”

“Want to hold her?” Harry asked with an encouraging smile.

“What if I drop her?” Caelum asked in alarm.

“You won't,” Harry assured him.

“Alright,” Caelum agreed nervously. Harry set Lyra in his arms and Caelum simply stared at her for a long time. Then he looked up at Harry. “She's beautiful.”

Draco carefully hugged the two of them and pressed a kiss to Caelum's cheek.

On Valentine's day two years later, Caelum wasn't quite so overjoyed to find out that he had a new baby brother. At fifteen going on sixteen in a month, he was no longer so keen on kids in general. That said, he was allowed to floo home and meet little Orion.

As Caelum held his brother (Lyra was still at Ron and Hermione's until they were invited over to meet the baby), he realized something important. Looking up at his dads, he smirked.

“You know, when he's five years old, I'll be old enough to live on my own if I want, and then I can come over whenever I'm in the mood, feed Orion and Lyra a _lot_ of sugar, and _just_ when they start bouncing off the walls, I can go home again.”

“You _would_ ,” Draco accused in a soft tone of certainty and dismay.

Harry chuckled. “ _Or_ you could do other things, such as take them flying on your broom. Teach them Quidditch.”

“Better yet, you could stay on the ground and teach them how to play catch,” Draco suggested.

“I'll buy them both drum sets when you graduate from Hogwarts, and you can teach them how to play drums,” Harry added.

Caelum smiled because he _loved_ playing the drums. “That sounds like a plan!”

And surprisingly enough, he was quite looking forward to it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huh... I didn't manage to work any smut in here. Lol!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One a certain day, Draco reminisces.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning, this chapter is a bit heavy and takes place just months after Draco and Harry get married.

Draco slipped out of bed and silently padded into his en suite bathroom. It was still dark out, although a hint of silver on the horizon as seen through to large windows showed that the sun was already about to rise. With a heavy sigh, Draco conducted his morning business, and then Apparated to a place where no one would think to look for him for a while.

Looking around, he appreciated the evidence that the house elves still kept this room as neat and tidy as ever. The suite was the master suite, and still exactly the way his parents had left it. Draco held his hand over a lovely bouquet of Narcissi that was kept eternally fresh with magic.

“Mum...”

The problem was that it was hard to think about what had happened 10 years ago on this day. So Draco sat down in the nearest chair and let himself _not_ think about it.

 

***

 

“What?” Lucius questioned after a _long_ moment of silence. Astonished silence.

“I'm pregnant,” Draco repeated.

Lucius frowned and exchanged a concerned glance with his beloved wife. She looked like she was holding her breath in an effort to remain calm. At first, Lucius thought she was as aghast at the possibility as he was, but then he noticed a sparkle in her eyes that made him wonder if she was actually _happy_ about this news.

Shaking his head, Lucius glowered at his son. “Draco, I'm not sure _why_ you're saying this – actually, I think I can guess after all. You hope that I will believe the lie long enough to let it slip to the Greengrasses and your engagement will be canceled.”

“Wait, that could happen?” Draco asked in mildly excited interest.

Lucius gave him a look that said: _stop playing the fool._ “Rest assured, I won't let it. This outlandish story you've concocted will not have the outcome you desire.”

Draco sighed and rubbed his temples before standing up and discarding the robe he was wearing. Underneath, he wore comfortably stretchy trousers recommended by his Healer, along with a soft and plain cotton tee shirt. There was a small but noticeable bulge that honestly _could_ be simple fat or maybe a beginner's beer belly, but on a body that was otherwise slender and svelte...

Draco cast a spell on his bump that his Healer had used a couple of times on him. “I'm four months along and due in April.” Draco informed his parents as they gaped at the holographic image of very tiny and not quite yet fully formed baby.

“This... this can't be...” Lucius nearly whispered in his riotous mix of emotions. He was shocked, in denial, a little overjoyed that there was a new Malfoy on the way, and incredibly furious all at the same time. “ _Draco_ , why in Salazar's manipulative feet would you _do_ this?! You _know_ how we feel about you being married _before_ you have a family! More importantly, _why_ would you purposely take a potion to get pregnant when you could far more easily have your wife carry the child in just a few short months?!”

Draco pressed his lips together for a moment even as he glared at his father. Then softened just slightly into an utterly flat look. “Yes, that would have been rather Slytherin of me, take a potion and have myself impregnated to avoid an arranged marriage that I don't want. Except that I didn't _know_ that I could do something so simple to end the engagement. If I _had_ , I might actually have done so.”

Lucius shook his head. “I'm going to visit the Greengrasses today and _insist_ that they let me host the wedding this weekend, _before_ they have a chance to find out about this!”

“I don't understand!” Draco roared in frustration. “Why does me being pregnant even matter?”

“How can you even ask that, Draco?” Lucius asked with a tone of clear disapproval. “You _know_ that the purity of our blood is important! This child – even if you chose a pureblooded wizard to impregnate you – was conceived out of wedlock, and more importantly, will _not_ have any blood from the Greengrasses. This is supposed to be _their heir_ too! They will not want their daughter to marry someone who has let himself be dirtied like this!”

“Dirtied?” Draco asked incredulously. His expression quickly turned to a glare again and he growled. “You consider me _dirty_?”

Lucius held up his hands in a gesture meant to calm them both as he took in a deep breath. “I do not, but the Greengrasses will. The _world_ will!” He shook his head. “It's not so much a problem of being...” he faltered as he tried to decide how to put it, then opted for the 'clinical' term. “ _Homosexual_ ... as it's a problem of honor and tradition. You are supposed to be _married_ before having children! We've told you this many times, Draco! But if I'm honest, yes, in our world, the fact that you got yourself into this sort of trouble – and thus, must be bent – will only make everything so much harder on yourself!”

Lucius exhaled in a rush. “I can only pray that the situation will still be salvageable if I get you married right away and Astoria agrees to lie and pretend that she's the mother of the child. If neither of you are seen by _anyone_ until the child is a few months old, we can claim that it was born early, or if that isn't believable, we can claim that you got _her_ pregnant before you officially married. It will still be scandalous, but not unforgivable. In fact, you might even be considered honorable for taking responsibility for –”

“Just stop!” Draco cried out in outrage. “I'm _not_ going to hide the fact that _I_ am pregnant! And I'm _not_ going to trick Astoria into marriage for the purpose of having her lie about it either!”

“You will,” Lucius insisted coldly.

“I won't!” Draco shouted rebelliously. “If you try to make me, I will show this proof to her parents and let _them_ call off the wedding!”

Lucius pressed his lips together and silently tried to figure out how to force Draco to do as he was told. Eighteen or not, he was still a Malfoy and had to obey the head of the family. Before he could fully sort through his thoughts, his wife astonished him.

“Oh my darling boy,” she murmured as she pulled Draco into her arms and held him tight. “I love you so much! You must be half terrified right now. Carrying a child is frightening enough for a woman who was raised knowing that this is her fate, but for you... Obviously you wanted this, but you couldn't have truly known what to expect. How your body will change. I want you to know that I will be there for you every moment of every day. No matter _what_ happens.”

Draco sobbed in relief and buried his face in her neck.

Growling because Lucius knew that he had just lost the entire battle, he looked away from his wife and son. They were his whole world and he _hated_ the thought of not being able to protect them from everything. Especially the foolish mistakes of youth.

“Fine,” Lucius stated in a tone that was as close to acceptance as he could get at the moment. “If the Greengrasses refuse the marriage, I will let the matter drop. But Draco, can you at least explain to me why you have done this?”

“I didn't do it on purpose,” Draco muttered, still crying lightly and clinging to his mother. “Muffy... slipped the potion in my tea...”

“ _Without your knowledge?!”_ Lucius roared in outrage. He promptly ordered the elf to punish herself, which she popped into the room to acknowledge and left the room to do. Draco wasn't worried though since he had long ago forbidden her to follow his father's orders without _his_ permission, and since she was his elf from the time of his birth, she couldn't disobey him. _Not_ that he ever pointed that out to his father.

When he was calm, Draco faced his father on his own once more. “I may not have done this on purpose, but I want this child. I plan to love this child more than I love my own life.”

“Of course you do!” Lucius exclaimed with a dismissive wave of his hand. “That's what it means to be a Malfoy. I do hope that the _other_ father won't be a problem. _Please_ tell me that you chose someone worthy of the honor. Someone willing to marry you, perhaps?”

Draco pressed his lips together and wasn't going to say anything until he realized that his mother looked both knowing and encouraging. She rubbed his back and nodded. When Draco still didn't say anything, she sighed so softly that it almost wasn't noticeable.

“It's alright, love, you may as well tell him.”

Draco shook his head. “There's not much to tell. I was slipped a potion during a one off with a bloke who ran off as soon as he could and I haven't heard a word from him since. In fact, it was reported that he left the country, so what good is talking about him?”

“Who, Draco?” Lucius asked with a frown. He was now exactly what he should have been from the beginning, concerned for his son. Ready to take up arms and drag the man back if necessary.

Draco took a deep breath. “Harry. … Potter.”

Lucius was utterly gobsmacked, but Narcissa simply smiled and rubbed Draco's back again. Draco nearly shuddered as it suddenly occurred to him that she not _only_ wasn't surprised, but _also_ seemed like she had known this was going to happen long before he did. Her eyes got a particularly mischievous glint in them.

“In your third year, you made and then dressed up in a Dementor costume in order to get his attention. In your Fourth, you made and distributed badges that said Potter Stinks! Oh Draco, my love, did you honestly think I didn't _know_ how you felt about him?”

“What?” Draco asked, flustered.

With a loving smile, Narcissa tilted her head to look at him in mild amusement. “A person – no matter if they are muggle or wizard – is _born_ a certain way, and if a mother pays any sort of attention at all to her child, she can see the signs. You, my precious boy, have always had a flare for the dramatic, excellent taste in clothes, music, and – well – _everything_ really. And all your attention has been spent on one boy in particular, except for when you were forced to focus on other things. I knew.”

Draco blushed and looked away. After a moment, he glanced at his father to find him looking rather speculative. Lucius even stroked his chin in thought.

“I feel... like I've been blind. Now that you mention it, Narcissa my love, I can see it so clearly, but I never even suspected...” He frowned at his cane as if it had suddenly offended him. “If I _had,_ I would have looked for a suitable marriage partner of the right gender.”

Draco felt all the blood drain from his face. “You would?”

Lucius softened and gave him the tiniest of smiles. “Of course. I want you to be happy! I just... I expected it to be the proper way with marriage first _and then_ children.”

Draco shrugged and let out a heavy sigh. “I really don't think there are too many gay pureblood wizards to choose from, so, perhaps this was the only way for me to have my Heir after all.”

Lucius got a look on his face like he had just swallowed the world's sourest lemon. “If that... _insolent boy_ ... that... _arrogant brat,_ that –” he cut himself off with a sigh of frustration. “Well, if he ever comes back, at least _try_ to see if he'll do the responsible thing. I don't expect him to have that sort of honor, but who knows? Perhaps he'll surprise me.”

Draco chuckled. “Perhaps.”

 

***

 

When Draco first held Caelum in his arms, he fell so completely in love that it took his breath away. The three older Malfoys doted on their newest member so atrociously that by the time he was two, he acted like the bloody king of the world. But... in an adorable way. A calm, quiet, sunny, I always get my way so I expect that I will always get my way sort of attitude. He was a sheer joy to be around and he turned the nearly silent Manor into a place filled with frequent laughter. It was honestly the best thing that had happened since Draco was old enough to go to Hogwarts.

Then, one day, nearing his third birthday, Lucius went out to buy him a present, and...

 

***

 

Draco stood up and paced the room. He felt stupid for being so close to tears all these years later. The cruel irony was that he _hated_ thinking about it, and yet could not _not_ think about it. His mind raced to something else instead.

 

***

 

Draco held his sleeping son in his arms. At two, the boy was rather heavy and quite the handful. He had wild black hair that _never_ obeyed anyone or anything – exactly like his father's. Otherwise, he was tall for his age and pointy under all the healthy babyfat he still carried. His skin was pale despite playing for hours each day in the sun – even in winter. And so, had inherited Draco's complexion.

Slowly, so as to not wake the little imp, Draco walked into the library to look for a book to read. To his dismay, his parents were already in there and appeared to be making out like teenagers. If he wasn't dead certain that it would wake his son, he'd have ran flat out from the room.

Lucius broke free from the disturbingly heavy snogging to ask in a voice heavy from panting: “Are you absolutely _sure_?”

“Positive,” Narcissa confirmed, also sounding a bit ragged.

“But at _our_ age, having a child would be –”

“A whole lot less stressful now that we have experience. And – I daresay – more peaceful since we no longer have any sort of war to fight.”

Lucius sighed. “Alright... Christmas is in two days. We can take a potion and conceive then.”

Narcissa grinned. “A wonderful gift to ourselves!”

Draco _really_ wished he hadn't heard any part of this conversation. He really _really_ didn't want the mental image of this in his head on Christmas, of all days! That said, he couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to have a sibling after all these years as an only child.

His parents still hadn't noticed him, and were now groping and snogging and – ugh! His hand was up her skirt! Draco stuck out his tongue in revulsion and _finally_ convinced his feet to back slowly out of the room.

 

***

 

Taking a large swig of firewhiskey, Draco silently thanked every God he had ever heard of that he remained to this day blissfully ignorant of the outcome of that plan.

 

***

“Your father should be home soon,” Narcissa murmured, a tender look in her eye.

Draco flung Caelum up in the air and caught him again a moment later. “Good. I'm bloody starving!”

“I suppose that we could always start without him,” his mother suggested since it was only lunch and Lucius had likely eaten at a pub.

“Brilliant idea,” Draco praised as he wiggled his giggling son and faked throwing him in the air before stealing a kiss.

A loud crack alerted them that Lucius had just arrived home after all.

“Avada Kedavra!”

Both Draco and Narcissa froze in shock before slowly looking at Lucius. A vase blowing up in the background let them know that the Unforgivable curse really did have power behind it.

“Crucio!”

Narcissa pushed Draco out of the way so that the curse hit her instead. “Run!” She gasped out in a pained voice.

Draco would rather die than let his mother suffer, but his son was now half strangling him in his fright. And...

And when it came down to a choice between his son and his mother, there was no choice. With tears streaming down his cheeks, he Disapparated.

 

***

 

The Auror stared at Draco blankly.

“Didn't you hear me?! I _said_ that my father is trying to kill my mother!”

Now looking more puzzled than anything, the Auror tilted his head to the side. “Listen, I know I thought that Lucius Malfoy got off far too easily after the war, but even _I_ know that he would never hurt his wife. It's nearly the _only_ good thing anyone has ever had to say about your family.”

Draco didn't know if he wanted to strangle the man or hex boils onto his bollocks. “I think he's been cursed! He looked like he might be suffering from an Imperius!”

“And how would _you_ know what an Imperius Curse looks like?”

Draco had to take a deep breath to refrain from doing anything to further scare his trembling son. His voice came out low and deceptively soft. “Look, you incompetent half wit, I am not proud of it, but I was ordered by the Dark Lord himself to Imperius more than one person – which you would know if you had attended the trial where I was acquitted of all charges. Thus, even your tiny substitute for a brain should be able to grasp the basic concept that I do – in fact – know what the Imperius Curse fucking looks like.”

The Auror was now glaring at him. “There's no need to get snippy with me. I should throw you in a holding cell for –”

“ _My father is trying to murder my mother!!!_ ” Draco roared, hoping that sheer volume might get through to the man. “ _He used the mother buggering killing curse! And_ you _want to throw_ me _into a cell?!?!_ ”

The Head Auror just so happened to overhear the thundering shout from his office. He emerged just in time to hear his employee shout: “I'm going to have to arrest you for –”

“Perkins!” Robards snapped angrily. “In less than three seconds, I have assessed this situation and determined that I have a young father, _holding his child_ , in here filing a complaint about an attempted murder! Why the fuck haven't you dispatched a team to handle this?!”

Perkins flushed, not at all pleased to be called out by the Head Auror. “But sir, even if I did, we can't get into Malfoy Manor without a member of the family to let us in. I highly doubt that if Lucius Malfoy is in the middle of murdering his wife – which I don't believe for a second – that he'd stop to let us into his home and have tea before bloody well getting on with it!”

Rather than argue further, because no matter how reluctant he was to admit it, Perkins had a point, Robards turned to look at those watching this drama unfold.

“I want everyone ready to go in two minutes. Except you,” he pointed at a massively burly wizard who looked like he routinely got into fights with sharks and alligators and won without breaking a sweat. “I want you to guard this child, Heraklion.”

“Yes sir,” Heraklion replied with a curt nod. He strode over to Draco and held out his hands. “I'm actually good with kids. I have six of them. Your son will be safe with me.”

Taking a deep breath, Draco nodded and cuddled Caelum for a moment before kissing him. “Be a good boy, Caelum. Daddy needs to do something important, but I'll be back as soon as I can.”

Caelum clung to Draco and resisted being handed to Heraklion as much as possible until Heraklion made a silly noise and captured his attention. Then he made more silly noises until Caelum decided to trust him. Draco was frankly amazed since no one outside the family had truly been able to hold Caelum without at least a little fuss – much to Pansy's consternation.

In very little time, Draco was leading a group of highly trained and vigilantly alert Aurors into his home. He had two in front of him to protect him, but since he was the one who knew the Manor, he was needed to not only let them through the wards, but guide the way. To his relief, Robards took him seriously, even though the rest seemed to think that this was more than likely going to be a false alarm – perhaps caused by too much alcohol and a bad temper.

 

***

 

Draco gulped down more firewhiskey, and threw the bottle into the fireplace before he could get lost in the bottle. He knew from previous experience that getting too drunk just made everything worse. It didn't numb his feelings; it exacerbated them.

 

***

 

Lucius seemed almost calm as he sharpened a knife with a hone. He looked up at the group watching him in shock and horror. “Muscle seems to dull the knife quickly. As does bone. I see you brought my son home, but he's not actually my son. He and my wife were both replaced by creatures who have burrowed their way deep inside. I'm trying to find the one in my wife right now. It's not in her heart; do you think it might be in her brain?”

He frowned in concentration and pushed the newly sharpened knife in her eye. Draco threw up even though he could see that his mother was clearly already dead. She was laying on the long formal dining table and her chest was mangled and open. Her heart was laying on her abdomen and had been cut in half as if it was expected to have something inside it.

“I cannot allow anything to corrupt the Malfoy blood,” Lucius murmured as he forced the knife toward Narcissa's ear, splitting one of the natural seems of the skull. “I shall remove this vile creature and make my wife pure again.”

Looking up, Lucius gave his son a look of deep concern. “And then I shall purify you, Draco. I shall rip the creature from you and drain all the dirty blood until you are wholesome once more. Only then shall our family be strong once more.”

Draco was sobbing uncontrollably, not even caring that he was clinging to a perfect stranger. The two Aurors assigned to guard him – one of which was comforting him with one arm while pointing his wand at Lucius with the other – maintained their stance so that Lucius would definitely have to go through them to get to him.

Robards shook off his astonishment and horror. Never in his entire career had he seen something so terribly gruesome as this. Horrible, terrifying, gross, upsetting, yes. He'd seen all of that, but not... this...

“Lucius Malfoy, I hereby place you under arrest,” Robards intoned, gesturing for four Aurors to approach him cautiously. As they did so, he rattled off the codes and charges and anything else he needed to.

Lucius looked baffled. “But I must find the creature!” He very abruptly grabbed his wand and pointed it at Draco. “Avada Kedavra!”

Thankfully, Draco's guards threw him and themselves to the floor before the spell could hit any of them. Lucius put up a good fight, but since they'd thrown up an Anti-Disapparation ward around the Manor, he couldn't escape. Thus, they eventually wore him down and captured him. He struggled and kicked even after his hands were bound.

“I must purify my son! I must fix my family and make it strong again! You have to let me go!”

As soon as possible, they hauled him into the Ministry holding cells. Over the next few days, every word out of his mouth was about the creatures infecting his wife and son. Healers were brought in to examine him and they discovered that he had an insanity curse. Ultimately, he was remanded into the custody of a secure ward at St. Mungo's.

Which left Draco basically an adult feeling like an orphan in the matter of mere moments. He went spiraling into a deep depression that Pansy and Blaise had to help him heal from by watching Caelum until Draco was well enough to return home. That took nearly two months of living in a facility with Healers on hand to talk to him around the clock if needed.

When he finally felt better and took his son home, it was to find that Caelum had turned from a happy little spoiled brat into a quiet and withdrawn boy who rarely fussed or made much noise at all. A sort of depression pervaded the Manor until Caelum's fourth birthday, when Draco decided that he'd had enough. He and Caelum were going to go out and _do things_ – such as go camping. They weren't just going to sit at home in relative silence. There had been far too much of that in this house as it was.

 

***

 

Draco flung himself onto his mother's side of the bed. On this day, he could always feel her comforting presence. Almost like a hand carding through his hair. He sobbed and babbled apologies that he had failed her. That he'd chosen to leave her to such a terrible fate.

If he could go back and do that day differently, he'd have raised his wand and cast the Unforgivable Killing Curse on his father the moment his father had tried to cast it at them. Perhaps he would have enough emotions for it to work. However, even all these years later – ten years of visits to a man who still very much wanted to kill him and cut the creature out of him – Draco wasn't certain that he had it in him to kill.

 

***

 

Harry walked into the small dining room where Caelum was already eating the breakfast served by his personal house elf. This surprised him since Caelum _should_ be in Hogwarts. The boy was only in his third year, and this was not a holiday. That he could remember.

Harry wracked his brains to see if he had forgotten a major holiday. Had Easter come without him realizing it? Had Caelum been expelled???

“Er... hey kiddo. What are you doing home?”

Caelum gave his dad a solemn look. “I'm always home on this day. Dad takes me on a little trip starting tomorrow and lasting until my birthday.”

“Alright,” Harry acknowledged slowly, still frowning. “Sounds a bit spoiled, but if the Headmistress allows it, then...” he trailed off with a shrug.

Caelum merely nodded, returning his attention to his food.

Harry looked around. He had the strange feeling that something wasn't right. There was a soft and subtle prickling up his spine.

“Where's your dad? I haven't seen him all morning.”

Caelum pretended like he hadn't heard the question.

“Caelum?” Harry pressed, now more concerned than ever.

Caelum shook his head. Then heaved a heavy sigh. “He's... probably in grandma and grandpa's room.”

“Why would he be in there?” Harry wondered, puzzled and still frowning.

“Because... today's the day... she died...”

“What?!” Harry gasped in sudden understanding. “Oh Draco!” He turned to run out of the room.

“Don't!” Caelum called after him. “He just needs to be alone. He'll get mad if you go in there!”

But Harry didn't listen. He used his husband as a focus and Apparated right next to him, a few feet away. He was utterly shocked to find Draco crying! Without a word, Harry sat on the bed and simply placed a hand on Draco's back.

After a while, Draco's tears lessened. A little while later, he shifted until Harry was more fully on the bed and Draco was using his lap as a cushion. Harry responded by carding his fingers through Draco's hair and silently waiting. He could tell Draco was starting to feel better about an hour later.

“Why the fuck did you come in here? I didn't want you to see me like this.”

Harry hummed in sympathy. “Like what? I didn't see a thing.”

Draco harrumphed. “You're a terrible liar.”

Harry shrugged. “You've seen my nightmares. You must know that I understand pain and loss.”

Draco wiped the tears from his eyes. “Perhaps, but I don't need your sympathy. I simply need to get through this day with my dignity intact. Then I take Caelum someplace fun.”

Harry helped Draco to sit up so that he could look him in the eye. “We're married now, which means that you are just going to have to put up with me comforting you. And don't think that you can just go off and celebrate Caelum's birthday without me.”

Draco sighed and rested his head on Harry's shoulder.

“Do... Do you want to talk about it?” Harry asked in a soft and gentle murmur.

“No,” Draco stated, but then sighed in defeat. “It happened 10 years ago.” He quietly told Harry everything. By the time he was done, Harry was crying and holding Draco tight.

Strangely, feeling how concerned Harry was made Draco feel loads better. If Harry could feel this kind of grief over a woman he only met less than a handful of times, then it didn't seem like such a bad thing for Draco to mourn his beloved mother – even after all these years. He no longer felt so ashamed.

Especially when Harry kissed him and said: “It wasn't your fault, Draco.”

“I know,” Draco whispered, thinking that perhaps it might be time to forgive himself.

“I love you,” Harry whispered, not entirely sure that Draco wanted to hear those words right now.

He did. However, rather than respond, he simply held Harry tight. After a few minutes, Harry pulled away.

“Are you hungry? We should probably go get something to eat. And – not now; maybe not even next year – but at some point, you should probably talk to Caelum about this. You don't have to go into details, but... I bet he is more affected by it than you realize. He might _need_ to talk about it.”

With a heavy sigh, Draco nodded. “You're probably right. But I can't today.”

“I know,” Harry accepted as he laced his finger's through Draco's. “Are you ready to leave this room?”

Looking around one last time, Draco nodded.

Later that night, the three of them decided as a family that since none of them had been to Disneyland before, it would be the perfect place to go. Harry felt something warm fill him up more than ever before as he looked at his husband and son and realized all over again that he had a family now. With a smile of pure adoration, he kissed Draco and hugged Caelum.

“What was that for?” Draco asked in amusement.

“My family,” Harry replied with a smirk.

“Alright then,” Draco accepted, resting his head on Harry's shoulder.

Caelum regarded them suspiciously, half certain that they were going to become disgustingly affectionate at any second. When they didn't, he sighed in relief. Smiling, he admitted to himself that this day had gone better than any of the previous ones he remembered, and it was all thanks to Harry. He could suffer a little affection for that. Thus, for seemingly no reason at all, he hugged his dads.

And then reminded them: “Hurry, or we'll miss our Portkey!”

Chuckling, they did.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I was rereading this story yesterday and this chapter hit me. As often happens, I couldn't do anything at all until I wrote it down, and now I'm not sure if I should apologize or pass out hugs.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caelum gets a tattoo :-)

Caelum turned 17 on March 25th – which made him a legal adult in the Wizarding World. Draco secretly fretted that Caelum would insist that Harry take him for that promised tattoo the _moment_ the clock stuck midnight on his birthday. But he didn't.

As the days passed, Draco was able to relax. He didn't actually have anything against tattoos – and rather liked Harry's – _however,_ he didn't think a person should get something like that until they were at least 21 and had a decently good reason for getting the tattoo. He really felt it should _mean_ something.

On the other hand, Harry felt that all tattoos meant something, even if the only thing they meant was a permanent artistic reminder of a bad decision. He had gotten his dragon at 18 and his snake at 19, and didn't think age had any real bearing on whether or not a tattoo was a good idea.

That said, he wasn't pushing Caelum to get one either. He was certain that Caelum would get one when the time was right for him.

Thus, when Caelum came to him after turning 18, graduating Hogwarts, and coming home, Harry simply smiled and agreed.

Happy that Harry was not trying to dissuade him, Caelum looked around to see if Draco was within earshot. Not finding him, he mentally sighed in relief.

“Dad... do you think you could not tell, er, _dad_ that I'm getting a tattoo until after I do,” Caelum asked softly.

Harry frowned. “I'm not certain that's wise.”

Caelum waved his hands a bit frantically. “I'm not trying to hide it from him! I just want to _show_ him that I'm getting a _good_ tattoo so that he can't argue because he thinks that I'm too young to know what I want.”

“Well, what _do_ you want?” Harry asked curiously.

Caelum showed him a picture. “Ever since I first mentioned it, I've thought about it a lot, and this is what I want.”

“Why?” Harry wondered.

“Because it represents all the reasons I love being a Slytherin,” Caelum answered seriously.

“Alright,” Harry answered with a nod. “Let's go do it now, so that I can claim my Gryffindor impulsiveness took over before I had a chance to think about telling Draco.”

Tempted to squeal giddily like he did as a child, Caelum threw his arms around Harry. “Thanks dad! You're the best!”

Harry Disapparated them. From where he sat rocking Orion during his nap – outside on the veranda where Caelum and Harry hadn't seen him – Draco let out a heavy sigh. He knew he couldn't stop Caelum, so he decided to let them have this bonding experience without a word of protest.

Besides, he was happy that Harry _had_ thought about how he would feel _and_ mildly impressed that Harry had come up with a rather Slytherin explanation as to why he didn't immediately consult Draco.

“At least I have 15 more years before I have to worry about you,” Draco murmured as he kissed his sleeping toddler.

Lyra, at four years old, was busy running around the garden chasing butterflies. She was at that age where she insisted that she didn't need a nap, but Draco knew that it was only a matter of time before she dropped from exhaustion. When she did, he levitated her to a nearby cushion in the shade, and then gently lay Orion down next to her.

Meanwhile, Harry and Caelum were chatting with Harry's go to tattoo wizard. At first, the wizard – named Cornelius, though everyone called him Neil for short – thought Harry was coming in to add to his third tattoo. He even made a joke about it.

“Having another baby already? Hoping to repopulate the Wizarding World all by yourself?”

“No!” Harry laughed and stroked his left shoulder. On it was a much smaller dragon than on his back. The dragon was the same shade of blue as Draco's wedding robes had been and had Draco written across his chest.

Under the dragon was a nest of three eggs – each bearing the name of one of their children. If Harry touched the eggs, they would hatch and baby dragons would come out to romp around on Harry's arm, chest, neck, and even back. Although, if they annoyed the dragon on Harry's back, she'd snarl and chase them away.

Caelum handed Neil a vivid and very detailed photograph of the snake he wanted.

“Interesting. And gorgeous,” Neil pronounced. “Like snakes, do you? As much as your dad?”

Caelum grinned. “Yep! I'm going to work in the Squamata Shop, and maybe even take over when dad gets old enough to retire.”

“Ah,” Neil murmured in understanding. “It's good to have a family business. I have a daughter who's spent the last three years covering herself in magical flames so that when customers ask her if she has any tattoos, she can tap on a spot and appear to spontaneously combust.”

“That sounds like it would scare the customers away!” Caelum exclaimed in confusion.

Neil shrugged. “Only until the fireworks go off, then everyone loves it.”

“Oh,” Caelum murmured. He was now mildly curious to see this for himself, but he didn't mention that.

“So... where do you want this?” Neil asked as he gestured to the area where beds and chairs waited for customers.

Caelum took a seat. “My right calf.”

“Why there?” Harry wondered curiously.

Caelum smiled. “Well, I normally were denim trousers, so it'll be covered most of the time. I figured that if it was on my calf, I could pull up my trouser leg and show it off if I wanted – without having to take my trousers off altogether!”

“Still shy after seven years in a dorm?” Harry asked in amusement.

Caelum shrugged. “Yes and no. I guess I'm not shy so much as I just like to wear denims.”

“Ah,” Harry murmured.

As Neil drew out the design and prepared to begin the tattoo, Harry and Caelum had time to talk about Caelum's plans to travel the world for a bit and look for interesting snakes. He felt it would be a bit like having a traveling branch of the Squamata Shop. When ready, Neil asked him to lay down on his stomach on one of the beds.

Unlike Harry, Caelum had never truly experienced pain before in his life. Thus, he whimpered and bit his lips when the needle first pierced his skin. But he didn't change his mind. He knew it would be painful, so he just had to endure it.

Like Harry, he fairly quickly entered a sort of trance. At this point, Harry and Neil chatted about this and that whenever Neil didn't need to put every ounce of his concentration into a spell or a tricky part of the design. When he was done, he sat back to admire his work.

Caelum came out his trance and twisted around to get a good look at his new snake. It was perfect in his opinion – an African Bush Viper done in a shade of Slytherin green edged in and accented with gold. The snake had startling eyes that made Caelum inexplicably nervous if he stared at them for too long. It was the perfect balance of beauty and danger that made Caelum smile.

“I love it! I'm going to call him Salazar,” Caelum announced as the snake flicked his tongue almost lazily.

“That's a brave choice for a name,” Neil remarked, but then shrugged since it was really none of his business. He took a few moments to explain all the healing after care even though he was able to cast spells to heal most of it.

Harry helped Caelum to his feet, and then hugged him. “Come on, let's go show your dad.”

Grinning Caelum nodded.

At home a few minutes later, Draco – who had been getting worried with how late it was getting – looked the tattoo over in silence for a _long_ moment. Just when Caelum started fidgeting nervously, Draco smiled.

“It's beautiful.”

Practically crying in relief, Caelum hugged his dad. “I'm so glad you like it! I've got to go show him off to all my friends!”

As Caelum ran off, Draco let Harry pull him into a comforting embrace. “Why do they have to grow up so fast?”

Harry chuckled and kissed his husband. “Because that's just life, love.”

Sighing, Draco nodded in reluctant agreement. Changing the subject, he asked: “So... how would you like to take advantage of the fact that I've already put the kids to bed?”

Grinning, Harry Apparated Draco to their bedroom without a word.

 


End file.
